MARKET REPORT: MIDDLE EAST
the Warner park and Clymb, featuring the world’s tallest indoor climbing wall and widest skydiving tunnel, are both due to open in 2018, SeaWorld is set to welcome its first paying guests in 2022. Visitors can expect a world-class offering of animal experiences, rides and attractions, but no orca whales. The chunky hub of the record-breaking 225m (738ft) diameter Dubai Eye observation wheel is already in place at Meraas’ Bluewaters project overlooking The Palm Jumeirah; Six Flags is planning its first Middle East theme park at Dubai Parks and Resorts (DP&R), and a second park – even bigger than the first – is promised in Dubai from the IMG Group, namely IMG World of Legends. D&PR has also announced that it is considering developing a fifth
park after Six Flags Dubai (scheduled for 2020) but has yet to reveal any details. There’s even plans by Union Properties to develop a revised version of the Formula One Theme Park at Motor City that was put on hold after the global financial crisis. Other notable new attractions that are under development include Kidzmundo at The Mall at Abu Dhabi’s World Trade Centre and the region’s largest indoor snow play centre at Reem Mall in Abu Dhabi.
“A notable feature of the new parks and attractions in the UAE is that the vast majority are not associated with a shopping mall”
Yet some projects have stalled or been abandoned. In October
2016 it was confirmed that earlier plans for Universal Studios Dubai have been scrapped while the long absence of any updates on the 20th
Century Fox theme park that was announced by Al Ahli Holdings
in 2015 are assumed by many to indicate that the project has been shelved, at least for the time being. There’s been no recent news either on the 80,000 sq m indoor theme park and Mall of the World project since it was announced in August 2016 that a new site in Dubailand was being sought for the project.
ORLANDO OF THE MIDDLE EAST? The scale and variety of the new development in the UAE and the pipeline of projects is confirmation, if it’s needed, of the country’s ambition and determination to become the “Orlando of the Middle East.”
A notable feature the new parks and attractions is that the vast majority are not associated with a shopping mall, marking a new phase and a growing maturity. In fact, it may be fair to say that the
PARK WORLD Handbook & Buyers Guide 2017
Lapita Hotel at Dubai Parks and Resorts is the UAE’s first themed hotel linked to a theme park
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mall-led phase of developments has peaked and that a destination resort theme park phase is now beginning. Witness, for example, the arrival of UAE’s first themed hotel linked
to a theme park, the 504-room Lapita Hotel at Dubai Parks and Resorts, soon to be accompanied by the region’s first Legoland Hotel. DP&R is also home to Riverland, a themed dining and retail destination that acts as a gateway to the resort’s three theme parks, and, on the same property, the Italian-themed Dubai Outlet Village. There is an understandable focus on developing indoor attractions. Just as at Ferrari World, the only part of the IMG Worlds of Adventure’s 140,000 sq m park that is outside is a portion of rollercoaster. Large parts of Legoland are shaded, and many of the key attractions at the neighbouring Motiongate and Bollywood movie parks are indoors. Even the new 60,000-seat Dubai Stadium announced in May 2016 will be fully air-conditioned. As some of the developments above highlight, there’s a strong trend
towards brand-based and IP-led attractions in the UAE right now; good news for brand owners with often Western-based intellectual property to licence. For everyone’s long term success, however, the attractions they create together must be compelling enough to capture the attention of tourists (the primary market) and a local population that is increasingly spoiled for choice. For now, the country is certainly leading the pack when it comes to critical mass of attractions.
UAE IS THE PLACE TO BE According to the IAAPA Global Theme & Amusement Park Outlook 2015 – 2019 report, over 90% of the Middle East’s spending on theme parks and amusement parks in 2019 will be in the United Arab Emirates. The way things are developing and maturing provides an exciting route map that other countries in Middle East region are beginning to follow.
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