ATM to highlight
increasingly important role of UAE’s major theme parks in achieving tourist
arrival targets for 2020
The UAE’s existing
and new generation theme parks will attract more than 19 million admissions a
year by 2020 if current trends continue, according to data released by Colliers
International ahead of Arabian Travel Market 2017.
The prediction is made using existing
admissions and arrivals data for Yas Island’s Ferrari World and Waterworld and
Dubai’s Aquaventure and Wild Wadias well as a sample of new and upcoming parks.
All four parks have experienced a strong correlation between the rising number
of visitors to the UAE and its admissions, with their combinedadmissions
predicted to reach 19 million visitors annually.
Similar patterns are expected to be seen for
IMG Worlds of Adventure and Dubai Parks and Resorts, which opened this year in
Dubai. Both parks have ambitions to draw in millions of visitors in their first
year of operations, with IMG expecting to attract 4.5 million people and Dubai
Parks and Resorts predicting 6.7 million ticketed visitors.
Simon
Press, Senior Exhibition Director, Arabian Travel Market, said: “Dubai has a
unique chance to replicate the success we have seen in other markets such as
Orlando, Singapore and Tokyo, attracting new arrivals while also capturing a
share of both the stop over and direct tourism markets. Theme parks are a new
addition to the tourism landscape here in the GCC and it’s important that
destinations are positioned to take full advantage of the benefits they can
bring.”
The predictions were published in a report
titled Theme Park Tourism, by Colliers International, and released to coincide
with the openings of Dubai’s IMG Worlds of Adventure and Dubai Parks and
Resorts (DPR).
IMG and DPR will be exhibiting at Arabian
Travel Market (ATM) taking place 24-27 April 2017, with IMG taking a stand 74%
larger than in 2016. Yas Island and Ferrari World will also be exhibiting at
ATM.
The growing importance and impact of theme
parks to the regional tourism landscape will be explored as part of the
programme on the ATM Global Stage.
Typically, a theme park can expect to attract
a visitor mix that is approximately 70% domestic, up to 20% regional and around
10% international, with MICE groups also forming a large share of admissions
especially in cities with a strong business culture, such as Singapore and
Tokyo.
Press
added: “We are seeing the start of a new era for Dubai and the UAE with the
opening of the world’s largest integrated theme park development, Dubai Parks
and Resorts, and other mega attractions. These join the likes of Ferrari World and
Yas Water World and naturally these will draw ever larger crowds to the
region.”
DPR
features four parks: Bollywood Parks, Motiongateand Legoland with Six Flags
Dubai opening in 2019. It also boasts a hotel resort, Marriott’s Lapita from
The Autograph Collection, the first inner circle theme park hotel in the region. With the Riverland retail and dining
destination, the AED13.2bn development covers 30.6 million square feet of land
IMG
Worlds of Adventure spans 28 football fields and is the first global theme park
to bring international brands Marvel and Cartoon Network together, in addition
to two proprietary brands IMG Boulevard and Lost Valley – Dinosaur Adventure.
The park features a unique array of roller coasters and attractions, 28 F&B
venues and 25 retail outlets.
The new parks will also create a distinct
economic boost for hoteliers following a difficult 24 months for the
hospitality industry regionally. Hotels and airlines have seen business
disrupted by events in key source markets including sharp fluctuations in the
value of the Ruble, Euro and Sterling.
Colliers concluded that the closer a hotel is
to a theme park, the stronger its performance will be in the key metrics of
occupancy, Average Daily Rate (ADR) and RevPAR, the decade after opening.
Hotels located in the “inner circle” of a
theme park development can expect to achieve occupancy levels two to 10
percentage points higher than properties in the outer circle and city. At
Singapore’s Resort World Sentosa in 2015, an occupancy rate of 92% was achieved
compared to an average of 85% for the city.
The average length of stay at theme park
hotels varies from two to six days globally. At Disney World Orlando the
average stay is 4.5 days, but this is attributable to the year round warm
climate and the clustering of other parks and ancillary facilities in the
Orlando area. Parks such as Euro Disney Paris, typically welcome guests for 2.4
days and Disneyland Tokyo only 1.3 days.
Press added: “This is the UAE’s chance to
position itself as a major leisure destination on a global scale and there are
many businesses in the tourism and leisure industries which should position
themselves to take advantage of this. With more attractions than ever before
the UAE, and particularly Dubai, are making clear progress towards achieving
their touristarrival targets.”
