Amusement projects in the Middle East region are likely to be held up rather than abandoned in the current economic climate. That is the view of a number of key suppliers in the region surveyed by InterGame on a major tour of the area.
"Projects currently under way will be completed and opened," said Prakash Vivekanand of Amusement Services International, a major distributor based in Dubai. "But many of those on the drawing board will be put back one or even two years."
In Qatar, Playland is opening a huge indoor FEC at the Villaggio Mall in Doha, with a roller coaster dominating a series of full-scale rides. In Bahrain MAF is about to open the largest indoor water park in the Middle East, opposite its new Magic Planet FEC in the Bahrain City Centre mall.
But these are on-going projects, rather than new proposals. In the Dubai area of the United Arab Emirates alone, there are no fewer than 50 major projects which are being put on to the back burner pending the global economy coming out of a recession. Some of those projects include amusement installations.
It is not all about a reduction in the intensity of development, however. Hitherto untapped potential is being taken up in more outlying areas of the region. Syria and Saudi Arabia are the big drivers because of population density. "These areas have been starved of entertainment in the past, so they are wide open to investment in this area," said Warehouse of Games’ Nabil Kassim, who operates out of the Free Trade Zone in Jebel Ali, UAE.
Operators in the region report that some surprising locations are now being added to the FEC business. Northern Iraq is seeing the opening up of mall-type operations and neighbouring Iran is also a fresh destination for amusement investment.
InterGame will run a major Special Issue on the Middle East market in its April issue.
