The Middle East Theme Parks - Can they all succeed?

Legoland Dubai under Construction

Dear Mr. Theme Park,

We are expecting the opening of 4 to 5 huge theme parks in the UAE in the next 2 to 3 years.  What kind of a support business to theme parks do you think we should consider opening?

-      Mujtaba

Dear Mujtaba:

The UAE and surrounding areas are extremely busy planning and constructing theme parks.  When looking at Dubai primarily, one has to wonder…….can all of these parks being developed actually succeed?

At our last count, there are more than 20 parks being planned and developed in the Middle Eastern marketplace.  We currently know that the parks under development are:

Park	Expected Opening Year
Dubai Butterfly Garden / Miracle Garden	2015
IMG Worlds of Adventure	2015
Motiongate Dubai	2016
Bollywood Parks	2016
LEGOLAND Dubai	2016
Majarat Oman (Oman Galaxy Star City)	2016
Dubai Safari	2016
Qatar Entertainment City	2016
Entertainment City Qatar	2016
KidzMondo	2016
XtremeLand	2016
Juniverse	2016
Angry Birds Theme Park	2016
Virtuocity	2016
Snow Park	2016
KidZania Qatar	2017
Pearl of Dubai	2017
Adventure Island	2017
Warner Bros. Theme Park	2018
20th Century Fox World Dubai	2018
Mall of the World	2018 First Phase
Bluewaters Island	2018

  

Mujtaba, the supporting infrastructure for major theme park development and the success of same is quite important.  Theme parks require major access and easy ingress/egress for the attending guests.  They also require good visibility from the highways serving the parks, decent topography, and well-located utilities in the inherent area.  Major parks also require ample hotel rooms, restaurants, and retail support.  “The more the merrier” as we say from the theme park support standpoint.  And, above all, sufficient local population and the extremely important and necessary tourist market are required to support the theme parks.

Keep in mind, Orlando is now celebrating 45 years of major theme park development.  Orlando has been built on demand – demand by the visitors who come and go annually.  Orlando now attracts 50 million tourists per year.  It has taken years to achieve this level of incredible tourism.  Remember, Orlando has seen upturns and downturns through the years.   This has ranged from the negatives of the economy, oil prices, and September 11, 2001, to the positive out come of the well-planned attractions Orlando enjoys to this very moment.

In 2008, Anheuser-Busch planned for an
entire island of theme parks in Dubai.

I have a saying that I have used many times during my involvement in the global attractions business.  That saying is, “Why would someone drive past one McDonald’s to go to another McDonald’s to get the same Big Mac?”  In other words, Mujtaba, the new product offerings in the Middle Eastern markets really must be different from one another, not only from the Intellectual Property (IP) standpoint, but also in terms of product offering and experience -- enough to make a significant difference in the eyes of the ticket buyers.

The Middle Eastern markets are extremely hot for a greater part of the year.  Air conditioning and comfort are going to play a pivotal role in utilization.  120-degrees is a hot temperature in which to recreate.  My friends who work in Dubai and the surrounding contries say temperature will not be an issue with the outdoor parks.  I will have to wait and see if the extreme temps have an impact or not.

Keep in mind too that Disney ran into problems, and to a certain degree, still has problems with their Paris and Hong Kong parks because they misread the “build on demand” factor, cultural issues, and competitive factors.

Too much too soon can leave an attractions market thirsting for visitors.  Lack of attendance impacts the continuing growth in the surrounding infrastructure programs.  You have to have tourists to achieve occupancy, fill restaurants, and continue to drive retail.

"They said it couldn't be done..."
Now Closed Hard Rock Park - South Carolina

The days of “build it and they will come” are basically gone.  It is going to be very interesting to watch and learn from this incredible Middle East growth.  If you reflect back to the mid-2000s, there was enormous theme park program development planned during that time.  However, when the global economy saw the massive downturn, basically all of the projects on the planning board stopped - while only a few continued.

So, we shall see.  There are big plans underway out to 2020.  Can demand keep up with the plans?  Only time will tell.  Supporting infrastructure will be an important feature.

I know this:  to support all of the themed attractions coming on line, a new theme park mecca will need to exceed Orlando if all are to be financially successful.