MARKET REPORT: MIDDLE EAST
the National Aquarium of Saudi Arabia and Science Museum proposed for Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District, which began in 2012, are few and far between, though a few reports continue to indicate a Q4 2017 completion.
OMAN Like Saudi Arabia, Oman is seeing the parallel development of shopping mall attractions along with large government-led destinations and attraction developments. Over one million Omanis visited Dubai in 2016 and the Oman Government’s strategy is both to grow international tourism to the country and to give residents more reasons to ‘staycation’. Part of this strategy is a focus on the development of waterparks and theme parks. The current flagship of this strategy is the 25,000 sq m Majarat Oman,
Snow Park Oman is one of several new winter sports attractions coming to the Middle East
a US$110 million water theme park development being led by the Sanderson Group. Originally due to open in 2017, it appears to be another high profile project that has run into difficulties. There have been few fresh announcements since the flurry of press articles in 2013 and 2014 that heralded the launch of the project, though a March 2016 article in Gulf News Oman indicates that Majarat Oman “will open soon.” The same article suggests that a waterpark will be completed in Salalah by 2017 and that the construction of an additional three waterparks has been announced by Oman’s tourism minister, Ahmad Al Meherzi. Other high-profile Government led tourism related projects in Oman
include the Mina Al Sultan Qaboos Waterfront project in the Port Sultan Qaboos area of Muscat and a 1.5 million sq m world-class theme park complex in Barka. Announced in December 2016 and being developed by the Muscat National Development & Investment Company (ASAAS), the separate Barka Entertainment and Leisure destination will boast an integrated theme park, a wildlife and waterpark, an equestrian centre and an edutainment centre as well as multiple hotels, a residential zone and retail areas that will offer a range of retail, leisure and dining options. The aim of the project is to “support the Sultanate’s agenda to diversify the economy and drive societal progress,” according to the CEO of ASAAS, Eng Khalid Al Yahmadi. Shopping mall-based attractions coming soon to Oman include the 5,000 sq m Snow Park Oman conceived by the Dutch company Unlimited Snow and 8,000 sq m Oman Aquarium, both featured as part of the Palm Mall in Muscat, due to open early 2018. Majid Al Futtaim’s 137,000 sq m Mall of Oman, also in Muscat, will include an 8,000 sq m indoor snow centre and a Little Explorers edutainment centre. Construction is expected to commence early 2017 with the mall opening in 2020.
PARK WORLD Handbook & Buyers Guide 2017
SUMMARY The number of large-scale theme park developments that have recently opened or are under development across the Middle East, and the UAE in particular, is astonishing. But it’s not just about the parks. In addition to the two snow centres on their way to Muscat, there has been a surprising number of other indoor ski and snow facilities opening in the Middle East recently, including Al Othaim’s Snow City in Riyadh, which opened in June 2016 and Majid Al Futtaim’s Ski Egypt, at the Mall of Egypt in Cairo, which is due to open this month (March 2017). This brings the total number of indoor snow centres in the Middle East that have opened or been announced to eight. And it’s not just ski centres and children’s role play attractions that are reaching saturation point in the Middle East: the number of trampoline parks continues to grow in leaps and bounds! In common with other parts of the world, the region is also seeing
a growing amount of digitalisation and “game-ification” as attraction developers look for new products to expand their existing portfolios of attractions. This includes a growing number of LAN multi-player gaming centres, simulators and VR room concepts. The variety and volume of new attraction concepts that is being
developed across the Middle East will give the burgeoning leisure industry depth and hopefully both stability and longevity as the region continues its push to diversify its economy and create exciting new world-class destinations.
Phil Taylor is the managing director of Team Leisure (
www.team-
leisure.com), a specialist leisure-consulting firm based in the United Arab Emirates. Team Leisure’s services include market analyses and feasibility studies, project development services and operational consulting services to the owners, developers and operators of leisure businesses worldwide.
21
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92
