Thousands of Saudi Arabians are flocking to the UAE as they celebrate the Prophet Mohammed's birthday.
With a week off work to mark the occasion, many are being lured to the Emirates thanks to the Dubai Shopping Festival, cooler weather and numerous flight options.
"Dubai is really nice this time of year and we wanted to take advantage of the shopping festival and maybe pick up a few things," said Abdulla Al Mussall, who was at the Mall of the Emirates with his wife and two young children. "We like coming here during holidays as it's very near and there are a lot of things for us and the children to do.
"Normally we stay for a few days in Dubai and then maybe go to Fujairah. It's a nice change of scenery."
The UAE has long been popular with Saudis thanks to the diverse activities on offer.
And visitors from the Kingdom are an important tourism market, experts say.
In 2011, about 874,000 Saudis visited the UAE, with 540,000 in the first half of the year, estimated the Saudi information and tourism research centre. About 150,000 Saudis flew to Dubai during Eid Al Adha last year.
Laila Mohammed Suhail, the chief executive of Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment, which organises the Dubai Shopping Festival, said the Kingdom's residents were an important market.
"We always factor this target market when planning for the festival," she said. "We make sure that we have a diversified list of events that cater to their needs of having family entertainment events in its best form.
"We expect a notable surge of Saudi families to Dubai in the last week of the event and we are very sure that they will find a great festive ambience across the city, while enjoying the entertainment, winning opportunities and great shopping promotions."
The shopping festival was the attraction for Mohammed Abdelaziz, who travelled with his family from the western Saudi province of Asir.
"I am here for the shopping festival and I want to purchase electronics, which are on great offer at this time," he said.
His three children, aged 7, 10 and 12, said they wanted to enjoy Dubai's signature attractions, such as Ski Dubai and the water parks.
"I heard a lot about Dubai Ski and I am excited to go there," said his eldest son, Bandar.
At The Walk at Jumeirah Beach Residence, Fahad Al Qahtani and Mishaal Mabrook said they booked their holiday to enjoy the shopping festival and take a break from their office work in Riyadh.
"We drove down to Dubai as it made better sense than travelling to Europe at this time of year," said Mr Mabrook, a banker.
"We made a road trip out of it but we were supposed to make a big trip with more friends who were not able to come."
Abu Dhabi has also attracted large numbers of Saudi tourists this week.
Hatham Khaleel Abdullah, from Jeddah, was enjoying coffee at Abu Dhabi International Sports Club in front of Marina Mall.
"I came here with my family and kids, most of the time we come here," he said. "This is my first trip this year but last year I came three times. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are both fantastic places to unwind."
Umm Najlah spent yesterday shopping at Marina Mall. "I drove here three days back in my own vehicle," she said. "We stayed in Dubai but today we came to visit Abu Dhabi.
"It's always good to visit the Emirates - they offer plenty of places to unwind and variety of sports activities for my children."
Etihad Airways runs 42 return flights each week from Abu Dhabi to Saudi Arabia and all have a very high occupancy rate throughout the year.
"We fly 16 flights to Dammam weekly, 13 to Riyadh and 13 to Jeddah from Abu Dhabi International Airport," a spokeswoman said. "This is a very important market for us due to its business and religious importance."
Emirates Airline is increasing the number of flights to the Kingdom from February 2.
Flights to Riyadh will increase from 17 to 28 a week, Jeddah will go from 18 to 21, and Dammam will have 13 flights a week, up from seven.
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Final: Iran beat Spain 6-3.
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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