MARKET REPORT: MIDDLE EAST Oman
The 8,000 sqm Oman Aquarium opened its doors on 15 April 2019 at Mall of Muscat (previously called Palm Mall) but the 5,000 sqm Snow Park Oman that was also being developed as part of the mall, appears to have been cancelled even though construction had started. By comparison, progress on Majid Al
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Kuwait In Kuwait, one of the recent attraction highlights was the opening of the world’s first Frostland themed ice and snow FEC at Baroue in The Avenues Mall. While the attractions industry in Kuwait has otherwise been remarkably quiet of late, the latter part of 2019 saw a staggering announcement. The big announcement for Kuwait in
2018 was Silk City, a 250 sq kms free economic zone with a 15 to 25-year development plan that is expected to cost an estimated US$ 86 billion. The project has not had a smooth sailing through Parliament as of yet, however, and as recently as November 2019 appears to have yet to be confirmed. No matter, however, the project has been dwarfed, in any event by the October 2019 announcement of a new 2,650 sq kms Entertainment City. Kuwait has issued a global tender looking for international companies to help develop the project, which is part of Kuwait Vision 2035 and will support the ongoing efforts of the government to diversity income and revitalise the culture, leisure and tourism sectors in Kuwait. The list of attractions proposed for
Entertainment City, a global entertainment and tourism city, is impressive. Its reported
30 PARK WORLD Handbook & Buyer’s Guide 2020
to include a ride-based outdoor theme park, an indoor theme park, a water park, an activity and entertainment centre for children, a gaming arcade, a snow and ski park, a multiplex and open-air theatre, sports centre and museum, as well as public parks and social entertainment areas with landscaped areas and trails. Let’s hope that they can also find a good home somewhere for the B&M coaster that was in the old Entertainment City that closed in 2016.
Futtaim’s 137,000 sqm Mall of Oman project, which will include an 8,000 sqm indoor snow centre and a Little Explorers edutainment centre, continues to be made with a 2021 opening announced for the mall as recently as March of this year. A number of high-profile, Government- led tourism related projects in Oman also continue to make progress, albeit at a relatively slow pace. Mina Al Sultan Qaboos Waterfront in Muscat and Hayy Al Sharq, a 1.5 million sqm world-class theme park and water park complex in Barka, both report progress in 2019, for example, but are quiet on potential opening dates. Progress also continues to be made on Oman’s planned economic city in Khazaen and on Madinat Al Irfan, the joint venture project signed in November 2018 between Majid Al Futtaim and Omran for Phase 1 of the 490 hectares, US$ 12 billion City of the Future project. The project is a mixed–use
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