Hospitality, Leisure and Recreation sector grows in the UAE

The "GCC Hospitality&Leisure-Recreation 2016" report produced by BNC on behalf of the event The Big 5 reveals that investments of US $178.8 billion are in progress in projects relating to hospitality ($126.8 billion) and leisure & recreation ($52 billion) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. A total of approximately 1,692 projects are under way in this segment.

The United Arab Emirates leads the market with investments of $98.3 billion, including over 200 hospitality and leisure-recreation projects worth at least $100 million each and with a combined value of $ 83.8 billion. These include the Firdous Sobha resort in Umm Al Quwain ($6.8 billion), the Dubai Eiffel Tower ($1.5 billion) and the Royal Atlantis Resort ($1.4 billion) in Dubai.

The investments in these segments are driven in particular by population growth and tourism, particularly in anticipation of major global events such as Expo 2020 in Dubai. The event is expected to attract around 25 million visitors, including 70% from abroad. With this in mind, Dubai is building 71,000 new hotel and hotel apartment rooms to increase its hospitality offering to approximately 164,000 rooms.