The architectural landmark of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi has placed its cultural and historical value at the world’s leading places of worship index within top positions. TripAdvisor in its report compiled in 2024 rated the mosque 10th best in the world and FIRST in the Middle East greater in the category ‘Top Attractions’. Therefore, the differentiation of the mosque based on over eight million points of data from travellers reinforces the idea of the mosque’s appeal and the diverse Experience it provides.
It was also ranked third among all the mosques in the criterion of ‘Cultural and Historical experiences’ which demonstrated a great improvement from the year 2023. It advanced to the 5th position in the attractions subcategory, the 15th position in experiences, and the 11th position in cultural/historical experiences. This leap is due to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre’s plan that outlines the improvement of services and providing novel experiences and due to the UAE leadership.
Director-General of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre Dr. Yousif Alobaidli said, “It is our leadership’s vision that is embodied by the Mosque in this global achievement Accomplishment is the result of the Centre’s five-year strategic plan to envision and develop new services and experiences to offer the visitors. ”
Still, in cultural tour guidance and visitor services, the Centre has trained over 250 young nationals who are now producing over 5000 cultural tours per annum. It is estimated that over 7 million people from different culture visit the mosque of which 80% are foreigners hence the mosque has acted as a one- stop center for people of different culture and religion.
The Centre is growing more and more services that it offers and is increasing its operational capacity. These are the Visitor Centre which contains exhibition halls, the Souq al Jami area which contains shops and entertainment programmes as well as spaces for excise such as a jogging track. Other special purpose tours include guided ‘Hidden Glimpses’ cultural tours and the ‘Sura’ night tours, which make the visitors to have some meaningful experiences of this culturally and religious site.
