ドバイのサファリパーク、改修工事終え営業再開　２年半ぶり

【ドバイＡＦＰ＝時事】新型コロナウイルスによるパンデミック（世界的な大流行）で落ち込んだ観光セクターの回復を模索するアラブ首長国連邦（UAE）ドバイで今週、改修工事を終えたサファリパークが約2年半ぶりに営業を再開した。（写真はトラ。アラブ首長国連邦のドバイで営業を再開したドバイ・サファリ・パークで）
　「ドバイ・サファリ・パーク」は２０１７年１２月にオープンしたが、その５か月後に「施設の改良」を理由に突然閉鎖した。かつてのごみ捨て場に建設された同パークは、１１９ヘクタールの広さを誇る。
　営業再開に先立ち、経営陣の変更の他、取り扱う動植物の個体数が増やされた。園では現在、３０００匹近くの動物が飼育されているという。
　石油が豊富な湾岸地域において、最も多角的な経済を見ることができるドバイだが、ここ最近は新型コロナウイルスの影響で大きく低迷している。
　観光業は長い間ドバイ経済の主軸となっており、昨年の訪問者数は１６００万人を超え、今年もパンデミックで渡航制限が敷かれる前は２０００万人を目指していた。
　ドバイは経済活動や観光客の受け入れをおおむね再開しているが、感染者数はここ数週間、増加傾向にある。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/10/08-10:49）

Dubai's Safari Park reopened its doors Monday after a two-year expansion, as the emirate seeks to boost its hard-hit tourism sector amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The 119-hectare (294-acre) attraction, which is built on the site of a former waste dump, first opened its gates to the public in December 2017, but abruptly closed five months later for park improvements.
After the addition of a variety of animals and plants and a shift in management, the park is open for business again.
Operations director Muna Alhajeri said the site -- located in the eastern desert region of Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE -- is home to nearly 3,000 animals.
This includes rare animals that are present for the first time in the United Arab Emirates, she told AFP, with species including the African Elephant, the Asian black bear -- or moon bear -- and the African bongo antelope.
The site was converted from a solid waste dump to a tourist, entertainment and cultural destination, Alhajeri said.
From the late 1970s until the early 1990s, the area served as a solid waste facility. Piles of rubbish once rose some 30 metres (100 feet) high, according to official reports.
Alhajeri said that since the construction of the park with pools of water, wild birds have also been attracted to the site.
The place was built in a way to properly accomodate such natural wildlife, she said.
Dubai, which has the most diversified economy in oil-rich Gulf region, has been badly hit by the coronavirus slowdown.
Its GDP has contracted 3.5 percent in the first quarter, following two years of modest growth.
Tourism has long been a mainstay of the emirate, which welcomed more than 16 million visitors last year.
Before the pandemic crippled global travel, the aim was to reach 20 million this year.
Dubai is now largely open for business and tourism, but infection rates have been rising in recent weeks.
Alhajeri said that visitors to the park must wear masks, undergo temperature checks and follow socially distancing rules, in line with precautions in place across the UAE.