Ras Al Khaimah on road to million tourists
With Jebel Al Jais as its key attraction, tourism in the emirate is booming
Traffic was moving slowly on newly developed road leading to the UAE's highest place as residents flocked to the historic Hajar Mountains in Ras Al Khaimah to skip busy life in Dubai over the weekend.
Urooj Fatima, a Pakistani tourist along with her family, was stuck in long traffic queue but she was capturing the scenic mountain landscape of the fourth largest emirate of the UAE. It takes more than 50 minutes from RAK city to reach the 1,930-metre peak of Jebel Al Jais, which is also one of the coldest areas of the UAE and occasionally received snowfall in the past.
Like other hundreds of families at the Hajar Mountains, Fatima spent a quality enjoyment time in camping, barbecues, play music and games till late night. Another Indian family cut a cake in dim car lights to celebrate birthday of a cute baby at the mountains, which were formed more than 70 million years ago.
New attractions planned
> Jebel al Jais is expected to emerge as new tourist destina-tion in ras al Khaimah once other planned developments i.e a hotel, cable car, paraglid-ing launch ramp, golf course and ski slope, will take shape in coming years. > Residents and tourists are mostly visiting the ]area to enjoy long drive and cap-ture mountain landscape in their cameras as there is no hospitality as well as proper food and beverages facility available at the top. > With little more efforts, Hajar Mountainshas potential to become a regular weekend getaway for dubai, Sharjah and ajman residents and can generate a sizeable revenues for the emirate.
"I think RAK is a perfect tourist destination with year-round sunshine, sweeping white sandy beaches, soft adventures and world class resorts. And Jebel Al Jais has its own mesmerising views and I have a completely different experience compared to busy life in Dubai and Sharjah," she said.
The Jebel Al Jais cluster, which is located around 25km from RAK city, about 100km from Dubai and 250km from Abu Dhabi, is the latest addition in the emirate's tourism map and has become a popular choice of destination for enthusiastic drivers, sightseers and picnickers. It is well connected with a newly-built highway, costing more than Dh300 million, and is expected to emerge as new tourist destination spot in RAK once other planned developments i.e a hotel, cable car, paragliding launch ramp, golf course and ski slope, will take shape in coming years.
The emirate also has the Middle East's largest water park spreading across an area of 110,000 square metres featuring world's largest man-made water fall and the largest rain dance pool. It also hosts one-of its-kind popular flying club, which has more than 50 different flying machines, and will help attract 850,000 tourist this year - an increase of 16.4 per cent. RAK Tourism Development Authority, or RAK TDA, is evolving strategic policies and taking measures in line with the government vision to promote the emirate's tourism infrastructure and potential across the globe.
