| If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
|
26-06-2008, 06:18 AM
|
#1
|
|
|
NEWS: Dubai Becoming Theme Park Destination (WSJ)
Dubai's Next Big Niche:
Theme-Park Destination
Six Flags, Marvel Among U.S. Firms
Planning Attractions
By STEFANIA BIANCHI
June 24, 2008; Page B5A
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- This Persian Gulf sheikdom is using
record oil revenue to secure multibillion-dollar deals with major U.S.
entertainment companies in an effort to draw 15 million tourists a
year by 2015.
Outside of its 12-lane highways, Dubai tempts tourists with colorful
souks, water taxis that run faster than car traffic, ski slopes in
malls, camel milk, and a seven-star hotel. (June 20)
One of the world's fastest-growing tourism hotspots, Dubai will invest
almost $350 billion on leisure projects during the next 12 years,
including a ski resort, a virtual-reality time-travel amusement park
and a Jurassic world populated with more than 100 robotic dinosaurs.
With the U.S. entertainment market largely flat, theme-park operators
are looking to international ventures in the oil-rich Middle East to
expand business. Dubai is offering deals U.S. companies can't resist.
The emirate, which expects tourism numbers to rise from seven million
in 2007, has signed huge deals with Six Flags Inc., the world's
largest theme-park company; Dreamworks Animation SKG; the Universal
Studios unit of General Electric Co.; Anheuser-Busch Cos.'s Busch
Entertainment Corp.; and Marvel Entertainment Inc. to develop
amusement parks rivaling those elsewhere. In each case, Gulf-based
developers are spending millions of dollars to build the parks, while
the U.S. entertainment firms reap the rewards from licensing, royalty
and management deals with minimal financial outlay.
At more than twice the size of Walt Disney World near Orlando,
Florida, Dubailand will be the pinnacle of the emirate's tourism draw.
The $110 billion, 280-square-kilometer development by state-owned real-
estate firm Tatweer will include an 11-kilometer strip of themed
hotels and sports facilities such as Music City and Tiger Woods's
first golf course. Visitors, expected to reach 40,000 a day, will also
be able to enjoy a range of attractions already found in the U.S., as
well as some that aren't.
Dubai is betting billions on development of the world's largest
airport. (June 24)
Six Flags Dubailand will be the first Six Flags project to be
developed outside of North America. Dreamworks Animation Park, a $50
million development, will be the studio's first entertainment park,
and Marvel's first $900 million Superheroes theme park will feature
comic-book figures such as Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk.
However, some entertainment experts say the market could quickly
become flooded. Orlando, Florida, "took 30-plus years to create a
major theme-park destination. It's critical that the launch of
projects in Dubai is phased to make sure that demand is built up,"
says Christian Aaen of Economic Research Associates, a U.S.
entertainment-consulting firm.
There are also questions over who will fill Dubai's planned -- mostly
luxury -- 125,000 hotel rooms scheduled to open by 2015.
"Dubai is still a long flight for some regions of the world," says Mr.
Aaen. "It also needs to expand its midlevel and budget market to
attract a broader tourism base and in particular the family market."
Dubai is confident of its plans. "We're not trying to attract one
particular type of tourist from just a specific region of the world.
Dubai will offer something for everyone," said Eyad Ali Abdul Rahman,
acting director of business development at Dubai's tourism department.
As well as facing growing competition from other regions planning
major entertainment destinations, such as Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Korea, and China, Dubai will have to fight off competition closer to
home. The Gulf region as a whole is set to invest $3.63 trillion on
the leisure industry until 2020, according to London-based research
company Global Futures & Foresight.
Just a two-hour drive away, Abu Dhabi -- Dubai's bigger and wealthier
neighbor -- is positioning itself as a world-class cultural
destination. The U.A.E. capital's Saadiyat (or Happiness) Island will
be home to an offshoot of Paris's Louvre museum, a Guggenheim museum,
a Tadao Ando Maritime Museum and a Zaha Hadid-designed performing-arts
center.
But Abu Dhabi's appeal won't be limited to the cultural visitor. Like
Dubai, it is looking to attract those in search of theme-park fun. It
has signed deals with Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. for an
entertainment complex based on MGM's library of 4,100 films, which
include the Pink Panther, Rocky and James Bond franchises.
Warner Brothers Entertainment, a unit of Time Warner Inc., is also
planning a theme park, hotel and cinemas across the emirate.
Motor enthusiasts will be able to head to Ferrari Land, a Ferrari-
themed park, which will include a Formula One grand-prix race track, a
twin rollercoaster ride that allows competitors to race against each
other and the only Ferrari driving school in the world outside the
automaker's base in Maranello, Italy.
Write to Stefania Bianchi at stefania.bianchi@dowjones.com
|
|
|
|
|
27-06-2008, 12:36 AM
|
#2
|
|
|
Re: NEWS: Dubai Becoming Theme Park Destination (WSJ)
> With the U.S. entertainment market largely flat, theme-park operators
> are looking to international ventures in the oil-rich Middle East to
> expand business. Dubai is offering deals U.S. companies can't resist.
>
Do you all see the paradox in this statement?
Dubai is rich because they raised gas prices, and now they think
people from the USA will go there?
And I don't need to hear the argument saying it's our fault gas prices
are high.
Why should US companies go there after they screwed us over?
I hate Disney for outsourcing tourism to other countries.
Outsource our jobs, our tourism, insource athletes (the foreign
experiment), and it's a joke.
Whenever people talk about Dubai, there's always a handful of people
who say how great the place is, how many will go there.
Well, I sure as hell won't go there even if they build the biggest
tallest coaster in the land. I never went to Japan when they had it.
Won't go to Dubai either. People on that side of the planet still
hate Americans. They still want Israel and the USA wiped off the
face of the map. So why would any Americans visit a 3rd world
country?
We helped Kuwait and look at what we got for it. $4 gas.
|
|
|
|
| Thread Tools |
Search this Thread |
|
|
|
| Display Modes |
 Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT +11. The time now is 08:57 PM.
Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.0.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
The Travel Forum
|
|
|
|
