Attractions and entertainment in the Middle East will recover faster than anywhere else in the world, says trade association MENALAC.
The industry, undergoing a rapid digital transformation, will outpace everywhere else, says the organisation, whose conference and annual awards ceremony takes place tomorrow.
This view is backed by plenty of official statistics. MENALAC points out that international arrivals in the MENA region generated US$121.5bn in tourism revenues in 2018; receipts in the UAE alone reached $21.39bn; the region has seen leisure, entertainment and attractions projects with confirmed investment of more than $350bn in theme parks and attractions. Additionally, PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts that the sector in the UAE has a market potential that will reach 45m visitors by 2021.
The conference and awards has big names among its sponsors, led by the Al Hokair Group of Saudi Arabia and followed by Cheer Amusement, Al Othaim, Play Enterprises, Bob’s Space Racers, Embed and others.
Rosa Tahmaseb, secretary general of MENALAC, said: “The association is to bring together top industry experts and stakeholders at the virtual conference to talk about key issues, challenges and trends.”
Tahmaseb and her colleagues at the association are representing an industry moving quickly into the digital age. Technology for digital and contactless payments will play an important role in transforming the $80.59bn leisure attractions industry in the region as it recovers from the pandemic. The regions theme parks are increasingly busier after a gradual reopening and the organisation expects the industry to transform itself to become future-ready with technology adoption begins the impact the business.
Mishal Al Hokair, deputy CEO of the Al Hokair Group, said: “Entertainment is always trendy and developing all the time. Therefore, I do recommend studying the market well before you choose which type of entertainment you will go with. All the fields in entertainment are attractive especially sport, e-sport, and family entertainment centres.”
He notes that MENA theme park and attraction operators are heavily investing in technology to create fully immersive and connected guest experiences they cannot get anywhere else. These upgrades include digital ticketing, cloud-based solutions, digital payment, augmented and virtual reality and experiential attractions.
Other comments from key backers for the conference include Sheikha Monira Al Sabah, CEO Play Enterprises, who said: “With technology developing at a more rapid pace today, we have to keep up with these developments to ensure our customers have these modern-day experiences. People do not have to be well travelled anymore to know what the latest trends are in the US, UK or Asia as they can see them from a click of a mobile phone and browse for this information online. Therefore, we must always assume that our customers will know what is the latest the industry has to offer and provide it to them in a timely fashion. You do not want to be viewed as outdated.”
Jean Habre, CEO of Al Othaim Leisure, said that lots of digitisation and technology will come into operations, such as iTeller, digitised entry, RFID wristbands and e-tickets for redemption.
"We are going to see more contactless procedures in place including e-commerce, self-service payment and redemption kiosks will have more impetus," he said.
“Since customers are more safety and hygiene centric, the operators have to ensure they follow the revised Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Customers will look for more value as spending power has changed; so operators will have to be innovative in providing extra value through hospitality or food and beverage partners.”
Dave Sandstrom, vice-president at BSR, said: “Touch-free entertainment, more cashless payment options, social distance entertainment and cleaning solutions will dominate the trends within the industry. We had a great prosperous industry before the pandemic hit us. Be patient it will be back stronger than ever!”
Renee Welsh, CEO EMEA for Embed: “Endless research studies confirm that a new type of customer is emerging from the pandemic. They are more conscious of hygiene and safety than ever before, so they are only going to businesses with clear safety policies, like check-in for tracking and tracing purposes, temperature checks at the door, mandatory mask-wearing, implementation of safety measures like protective gear for staff, social distancing measures, hand sanitisation stations in the venue, capacity management and contactless payment solutions.
“In fact, the pandemic has forced the world to enter the ‘low-touch economy'. Every individual on the planet is more conscious about hygiene than ever before. Around 82 percent of people view contactless and low-touch as the safest way to pay, which is why you’ve seen a dramatic spike in mobile payments using the mobile wallet.”
The conference is on Tuesday, November 10 starting at 13.30 (Dubai time). Viewers can register online.
