Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport #38

AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST
NEWS BRIEFS
ABU DHABI TOURISM HOTTING
UP WITH SEVERAL MAJOR
DEVELOPMENTS
The eagerly anticipated Louvre Abu
Dhabi opened to visitors in 2017,
the first branch of the Louvre to
open outside France. Its permanent
collection comprises more than 600
pieces of art, displayed across 23
state-of-the-art galleries.
Meanwhile, Miral – the developer
behind Warner Bros World Abu
Dhabi, which opens on Yas Island in
2018 – has revealed that the US$1bn
dollar theme park will be made up
of six immersive worlds. The DC
Comics universe will comprise two
of the six worlds, with Metropolis
Gotham City,
Warner Bros World
Abu Dhabi
and Gotham City, the homes of
Superman and Batman respectively,
designed to draw fans of the super
hero franchises. The next worlds,
Cartoon Junction and Dynamite
Gulch, will bring together Bugs
Bunny, Scooby-Doo and other
famous characters from Looney
Tunes and Hanna-Barbera, while fans
of the Flintstones can have a “yabba
dabba doo” time in the prehistoric
world of Bedrock. The final world will
be Warner Bros Plaza, a recreation of
Hollywood in its Golden Age, when
many of these seminal characters
were first brought to life
Lobby, Kempinski Hotel Muscat
TOURISM KEY FACTOR
TO GROWTH IN OMAN
By 2040, Oman aims to attract more than 11.7
million visitors, making tourism one of the most
significant income generators in the Sultanate, at
between six and 10% of annual GDP.
To cater for a planned increase in visitors, Muscat
International Airport’s new terminal was opened
recently, with the ability to handle 12 million
passengers per year. A number of new hotels
have opened or are scheduled to open soon,
including the luxury Kempinski Hotel in Al Mouj,
Muscat; the dusitD2 Palm Mall Muscat and the
luxury development of Muscat Bay. Elsewhere,
the former commercial port, Port Sultan Qaboos,
is under development to transform into a major
tourist and business travel destination with hotels,
retail and cultural areas. Oman Air, for its part,
is undergoing a major expansion programme,
which will see the carrier operate 70 aircraft to
around 75 destinations by 2023
US$10BN INVESTMENT IN BAHRAIN TOURISM SECTOR
Bahrain will see the opening of
15 new hotels and beachfront
resorts by 2020 – representing
a total investment of more
than US$10bn. New arrivals
include global hotel brands
such as One&Only, Wyndham,
Fairmont, Vida, The Address,
Ibis and Pullman. Bahrain
already has more than 190
hotels and resorts, and the extra
developments are expected
to increase hotel capacity by
about 4,000 hotel rooms by
2020. The kingdom is seeing
another boost to its profile this
year as its second largest island,
Muhurraq, is the Islamic Cultural
Capital 2018, recognising the
conservation work being done
on the island – most notably
with the UNESCO World
Heritage Pearling Trail due for
completion this year
Qal’At Al-Bahrain Historic Site,
Bahrain