Dubailand struggles with ambitious targets (page 2 of 2)

Optimism remains

Despite the delays that have plagued Dubailand, there is optimism that the development will be a success. 'Dubailand has had a few hiccups but they have the ambition to pull this off,' Attala said. 'There will be more projects announced, but not at the pace we were seeing a year ago.'

Dubailand is wise to be focusing on projects that are currently underway, rather than ones that are on the drawing board, said John Podaras, Operations Manager at TRI Hospitality.

He believes that the success of Dubailand hinges on the residential developments that are being built alongside many of the theme park projects. 'Simply building a massive theme park is not enough for it be a success. It needs to have a substantial population mass right next to it,' he noted.

Hotels in Dubai are not feeling anxious about the delays hitting Dubailand because occupancy levels remain high in the emirate due to the shortage of rooms that still exists. They also say they are not threatened by the huge influx of new hotels that are planned for Bawadi, because they feel that the travellers who come to stay at Dubai's beach hotels are different from the tourists who are going to stay out in the desert, Podaras said.

Even if Dubailand is scaled back, it is still realistic that Dubai will hit its target of 15 million tourists a year by 2015, Attala said. The emirate has a number of other big attractions that have either already been built or on the way, including Atlantis and the QE2.

He points out that Las Vegas attracts 44 million tourists a year, but only 30% of these visitors go there to gamble. The remaining 70% of tourists are family visitors. One must also not forget that more than 300 million people live near Dubai, so there is a 'captive audience'.

And despite its growing pains, Dubailand is poised to be a huge attraction for the emirate. 'Dubailand will be a great indicator of where Dubai is going,' Attala said. 'It will be a bit of an embarrassment if they fail, but I don't think they will. I am a believer in the Dubai story. Once they put their mind to something it usually gets done.'

AME Info could not reach Dubailand for comment on this article.

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