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“It is a little bit disappointing,” agreed David Jia,
vice-president of China’s Golden Horse Amusement Equipment. “Last year everyone knew it would be slow. We thought that would be over now, but it is still slow.”
Back to Reality “It’s back to reality, the dream is over,” sighed Marco Grigolo from Technical Park. “I last came to this show two years ago and there were champagne corks popping everywhere because people were making deals. This time I did not see the first celebration until after lunch on the second day.” “Projects are going on in the UAE,” countered Lars
Lenders from Van Egdom, “but they tend to be humungous so they take a lot longer to come off the ground. Much is happening in Abu Dhabi, but water is political in this region because it is so scarce; we have to manage water better.” Other waterpark suppliers were happy with the
Waleed A Ibrahim of Gulftech Amusement Rides with the company’s Dancing Swan ride
show. “This is our main market,” revealed Bilge Pakis from Polin in Turkey. “We’ve had lots of leads and probably about 30% of it is for new work in the Gulf. Last year there were lots of people but they did not seem very serious.” Based in Macau, the design firm Sanderson decided
to return to DEAL after a long gap to coincide with the opening of a new UAE office in Sharjah. “We last exhibited 10 years ago when the show was still TPFC,” revealed Phil Ramsden. “We expect Abu Dhabi to be the one to watch; there is not a lot of work in Dubai itself.” The Middle East consists of more than just Dubai!”
John Davies and Paulo Moro from OmniTicket, taking it easy on the show floor
highlighted Peter van Bilsen from Vekoma. “We have seen people from Iran, Syria and Jordan, where they are just getting started, however it is difficult for them to understand the difference between luna park rides and big coasters. We seem expensive when they see our prices.” “There has certainly been a good showing from
Iran,” remarked Andrea Cielo from Zamperla. “We have already sold rides to North Korea; Iran is trying but there is still a lot of problems. We hope that Ahmadinejad will come calling!” DEAL 2011 will take place at the Dubai World Trade
Centre from April 4 to 6, including the first ever Middle East Amusement Industry Awards.
www.themeparksdubai.com
WWA Middle East Symposium Waterpark conference highlights DEAL seminars
Even without the planned Middle East Attractions
Forum, postponed because
of several stranded European speakers, DEAL 2010
provided a comprehensive education programme.
Responsible for a large part of this was the World Waterpark Association
(WWA), which held its latest Middle East Symposium in
the Ras Al Khaimah suite of the Dubai World Trade
Centre (DWTC) on April 24 and 25
turnout following last year’s curtailed event when, “it just didn’t seem like the right thing to do.” This was in fact the third WWA Symposium of
I
the year, following spring meetings in the USA and Germany, and available to WWA members and DEAL visitors for an additional fee. Waterparks are popular in the Middle East, of course, because of the climate and Dubai is home to two very popular facilities, Wild Wadi and Aquaventure at Atlantis. Large delegations from both parks were represented at the two-day conference. Delivering one of the opening sessions was WWA
stalwart Roger Currie from Aqua Leisure International, who also covered for an absent David Camp of AECOM. An industry still in recession, noted Currie, is facing the challenge of how to balance guest experience with operational need. “After years of expansion it is time for reflection. Retro-fit and upgrade are the fastest growing sector.” Nevertheless, the range of slide and attractions
available to waterpark operators is greater than ever before. Attractions that integrate viewers and queuers
20 A WWA seminar session in full flow JUNE 2010
n opening this, the association’s second Middle East conference, WWA president Rick Root remarked that he was very pleased with the
with riders are popular, as are rides with shared participation and combinations of different attractions. Many of these themes were reinforced later in presentations by Jeff Jannovitch of ProSlide and Andrew Wray from WhiteWater West. Due to open any day now is a waterpark that will
swamp both Wild Wadi and Aquaventure in size. Located less than an hour from Dubai in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, Ice Land is part of the WOW RAK
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