Dubai’s spirit of celebrating New Year hailed by Guinness Book of Records
The grand New Year celebrations all across Dubai did not fail to impress crowds as the city once again lived up to the expectations. However, owing to minor safety concerns, some of the planned firework elements were called off at the last minute. The much-hyped flying falcon countdown and the UAE flag did not take place, owing to precautionary safety concerns put in place minutes before midnight.
Event organisers blamed overcrowding at the entrance to Palm Jumeirah as one of the possible reasons for a delayed start to the show. However, that did not stop Dubai from entering the Guinness Book of Records as the city successfully trumped the earlier record, which belonged to Kuwait.
The attempt to break the world record was officially recognised at a ceremony in Atlantis, The Palm – a few minutes after the show was complete.
Alistair Richards, Global President of Guinness World Records presented the certificate to Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman, DP World and Major-General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police Deputy Commander-in-Chief who received the accolade on behalf of the Dubai Government.
“It is our pleasure to welcome Dubai yet again to the elite body of Guinness World Record holders,” said Alistair.
Officials in Dubai were clearly thrilled to enter the record books once again. Speaking with Khaleej Times, Sultan bin Sulayem said: “Dubai celebrates the New Year with optimism.”
“The event was hosted under the direction of Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, who wanted to celebrate with everybody else. Dubai hosts many people from different nationalities and this is our way of celebrating with the world,” he said.
Phil Grucci, CEO of Fireworks by Grucci said, “Dubai stands for itself and we have been fortunate to perform in this city since 2007. The energy, unity and class is top-notch and the performance lived up to its expectations.” More than 400,000 fireworks had been fired and officials from the Guinness World Records were still calculating the number of shells fired till late on Wednesday. “Everybody has been cheering and by and large it is an overwhelming response. I am sure it is quite difficult to break this record.
