Dubai Safari, home to the most diverse array of animals in the country, on Tuesday announced that since opening its doors to the public last week, the number of visitors to the park has crossed the 100,000-mark.

Continuing with its commitment to providing visitors of all ages a seamless and unique experience, effective Thursday, 21st December, entrance to Dubai Safari will be ticketed.

"Starting Thursday, Dubai Safari will introduce its entry fee for all visitors, having reached its goal of 100,000 visitors during the soft opening period. We expect to welcome two million visitors during the park’s first year of operation," said Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Municipality.

He added, "The response from the public was overwhelming and during this testing phase it gave us the opportunity to monitor and assess the overall operations of the park while also gathering valuable feedback from visitors about their experience. This will contribute immensely towards further enhancing the overall offering of Dubai Safari."

The Department of Customers and Partners Relations at Dubai Municipality surveyed visitors about their experience and perception of the various offerings of the park including the animal enclosures and the recreational areas. The efforts of Dubai Municipality in ensuring that the highest standards and best global practices in relation to animal care and safety are implemented at Dubai Safari were highly appreciated and commended by the visitors.

Mohammed Mubarak Al Mutaiwei, Assistant Director-General of the Communication and Community Sector and official spokesperson of Dubai Municipality, said, "Conducted with approximately 50,000 visitors to Dubai Safari, the survey found that the ethnicities of the visitors comprised 39 percent Arabs, 29 percent Asians, 23 percent Emiratis and 9 percent Europeans. Males accounted for 64 percent of the visitors while females accounted for the remaining 36 percent. In terms of age, a majority, 54 percent were between the ages 30-40, while 25 percent were between the ages 19-29, 13 percent were between the ages 41-51, 6 percent were below 18 years, and 2 percent were 51 years or older."