CASE STUDY
GHAFA's first edition had no ticketing history. It sold 9,400+ tickets.
Ghafa by Kafafi launched GHAFA, a 3-day indoor community marketplace at Festival Arena Dubai with 200+ homegrown brands, food concepts, live Emirati performances and family activations. Every ticket, every sales channel and every gate scan ran on their own branded Ticmint platform.
- Community Marketplace
- Dubai · UAE
- THE RESULTS
From zero ticketing history to 9,400+ tickets.
9,400+
Tickets sold
97.6%
Attendance rate
200+
Local brands
3
Days, 4PM to midnight
58%
Sold online
42%
Box office (offline)
9,400+
Tickets sold
97.6%
Attendance rate
200+
Local brands
3
Days
58%
Sold online
42%
Box office (offline)
The Challenge
GHAFA had the brands and the venue. It had no ticketing history.
GHAFA was a new idea: a community marketplace that put Dubai’s homegrown brands, local food and Emirati culture under one roof. There was no previous edition to learn from, no ticketing history and no audience list. The Kafafi team was building the event and the ticketing setup at the same time.
Festival Arena Dubai set a high bar. 200+ brands, live performances, food concepts, games and activations, running across three evenings from 4PM to midnight. Four problems had to be solved before the doors opened.
No ticketing setup to start from
With no prior edition, there was no system, no audience database and no process for selling, delivering or scanning tickets. Everything had to be live before opening night.
Multiple ticket types across three days
Day Passes, 3-Day Passes and children's tickets all had to run across three event days with different crowd patterns, without one day's inventory affecting another.
Online and box office in parallel
Buyers needed to book online in advance and walk up to the box office on the day. Both channels had to stay in sync, with no overselling and no gaps at the gate.
Fast entry at peak hours
Thousands of visitors arrived across three evenings. Gate entry had to be fast and fraud-resistant, because a queue on opening night is the first impression of a brand-new event.
They needed a platform that could launch fast, run clean and handle a 3-day marketplace with no margin for a first-edition mistake.
How Ticmint Helped
One platform. Every channel covered.
A fully branded checkout
GHAFA sold every ticket on its own branded checkout at ghafa.ticmint.com. Their name, their look, their audience, with no marketplace in between.
Every ticket type in one place
Day Passes from AED 5, 3-Day Passes and children's tickets, all set up in one dashboard with live inventory for each event day.
Online and box office in sync
Online sales and on-the-day box office drew from the same live inventory, so nothing was oversold and nothing needed reconciling at the end of the night.
WhatsApp ticket delivery
Tickets were delivered on WhatsApp, the app UAE visitors already use every day, with better deliverability than email.
Dynamic QR with self check-in
Every ticket carried a dynamic QR code. Visitors checked in with a quick scan at the gate, fraud-resistant and tracked live, even at peak evening hours.
Printed tickets, live at the box office
Walk-up buyers got a printed ticket on the spot, issued from the same live inventory as online sales.
- FIRST EDITION
GHAFA didn't just launch. The crowd showed up.
No prior edition. No ticket sales history. No established audience. Just a new idea, a strong venue and the right setup behind it. Across 25 to 27 September 2026, GHAFA sold 9,400+ tickets, and nearly every buyer walked through the gate.
- Online and box office tracked live, from one inventory
- Tickets delivered on WhatsApp, with no app download needed
- Self check-in with dynamic QR kept up with peak evening crowds on all three days
- Live ticket printing at the box office for walk-up buyers
- 97.6% of tickets sold were scanned at the gate
- GHAFA is already inviting brands to register for edition two
"97.6% of tickets sold were scanned at the gate. On a first edition, buyers showed up."
THE STORY
One weekend. Two sales channels.
Online
58%
of tickets · booked in advance · delivered on WhatsApp
Most buyers booked ahead on GHAFA’s own branded checkout, choosing a Day Pass from AED 5 or a 3-Day Pass for all three evenings. Tickets went straight to WhatsApp.
Box Office
42%
of tickets · sold at the door · same live inventory
Walk-up demand was strong every evening. Box office sales drew from the same live inventory as online, walk-up buyers received printed tickets on the spot, and every ticket was scanned through the same system.
This was GHAFA’s first edition, so we had nothing to build on. No past events, no ticketing setup, no audience list. Ticmint gave us our own branded ticketing from day one, and it held up across all three nights.
“Online sales and the box office ran from one system, walk-up buyers got printed tickets on the spot, and self check-in at the gate was smooth even at our busiest hours. 97.6% of the people who bought a ticket came through the doors. We’re already planning the next GHAFA, and Ticmint will be part of it.”
Mohammed Kafafi
GHAFA Events
The Atmosphere
9,400+ visitors. 200+ local brands. One arena.
Every brand, every stall, every evening, under one roof at Festival Arena Dubai.
Launching your first event? Own your ticketing from day one.
GHAFA sold 9,400+ tickets on its first-ever edition, across online and box office, on its own branded Ticmint platform. Whether you are launching something new or growing an established event, Ticmint handles the ticketing so you can focus on the experience.
Frequently asked questions
Can Ticmint handle ticketing for a first-time event?
Yes. GHAFA by Kafafi launched its first-ever community marketplace on Ticmint with no prior ticketing history. The platform handled online and box office sales together, delivered tickets on WhatsApp and supported Day Passes, 3-Day Passes and children’s tickets from day one.
How does Ticmint run online and box office sales together?
Ticmint runs online and box office sales from one dashboard with a single live inventory. At GHAFA, 58% of tickets sold online and 42% at the box office, with walk-up buyers getting printed tickets on the spot, all tracked and scanned through the same system.
Is Ticmint suitable for multi-day events in the UAE?
Yes. Ticmint supported GHAFA’s full 3-day run at Festival Arena Dubai, managing day-by-day ticket types, box office sales and gate scanning across all three evenings, with a 97.6% attendance rate on tickets sold.
Does Ticmint support white-label ticketing for UAE events?
Yes. GHAFA ran on a fully branded checkout at ghafa.ticmint.com, with its own name and look across the buyer journey and no marketplace branding in between.