I first went to the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) five years ago. As a treat, Nakheel, the developer of the Palm islands, ferried hundreds of exhibitors out to The World archipelago of artificial islands that it was hoping to market to international investors. A few journalists were allowed to tag along in steerage for the lavish reception on the island - one of about 300 then being created about 4km off the coast of Jumeirah.
The venue was Greenland, which was a sort of show island for the development - albeit a warmer, sandier and less polar bear-populated version of the original. Half a decade later, The World looks much as it did then. It turned out that not many of the visiting travel agents were in the market for a US$50 million (Dh183.6m) island as an occasional retreat from their daily grind at Thomas Cook. The trip from the Burj Al Arab to The World was only about 40 minutes on that balmy Monday evening in May. But it took twice as long to return because the boat kept on getting lost among the waterways that separated the various continents and countries.
We may have taken a right down the Suez Canal instead of heading straight for the Cape. Either way, I remember noting it as a potential problem for the future residents of the islands. Just one wrong turn could turn a dispute between neighbours into a geopolitical incident of Lilliputian proportions. Back in 2005, the Arabian Travel Market was more about property than hospitality. The big developers of the emirate occupied stands that towered over those of hotels and tour operators. Giant models of lavish resorts peppered the halls of the exhibition centre where Nakheel was the largest single exhibitor and Dubailand the second-largest.
The fortunes of the emirate's property and tourism industries have always been tightly entwined. The Dubai Holding-owned Dubailand and the Dubai World-owned Nakheel were together given the task of delivering the sort of infrastructure that could secure 15 million tourists by 2015, or more than twice the current number of visitors. Nakheel, through building artificial islands, would deliver hundreds of kilometres of new beachfront for holidaymakers to baste themselves on, while Dubailand would build theme parks on an unprecedented scale while making maximum use of the city's undeveloped desert hinterland.
Development on this scale had never been tried before. Dubailand has long been the very largest of the larger-than-life developments that have come to be associated with the emirate over the last decade. It looked ambitious even at the very height of the economic boom, largely because theme parks require huge centres of population close by to pay for themselves. But such was the frenzy of interest from developers that Dubailand projects were being announced on an almost weekly basis through much of 2005. At one point, there were even two Dubailand developments located next to each other that both included multimillion-dollar replicas of the Taj Mahal.
It would have been great to be a fly on the wall when that little oversight was noticed by one or other of the respective project teams. These days, not many property developers set out their stalls at the ATM, which opened yesterday. Dubailand is still there, exhibiting projects that have become fondly familiar over the years but remain largely concepts. This year the Dubailand stand covers 800 square metres and includes 14 projects.
A few such as MotorCity, Sports City and Dubai Outlet Mall have been either fully or partially completed. But most remain firmly on the drawing board, such as the theme park to be developed by Six Flags, which emerged from US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week, and the Universal Studios park originally announced in 2007 Even more projects are listed on the Dubailand website that are still concepts more than five years after their launch, such as Beauty World, Aqua Dunya and The Great Dubai Wheel.
While the collapse of property prices and the contraction of credit markets has forced the cancellation of hundreds of projects over the past 20 months, the Dubailand website appears somehow frozen in time. The question must be that if many of these schemes failed to attract financial support back in the heady days of 2005 when the region was awash with capital, why are they still being promoted in the radically changed world of today?
Dubailand remains an exciting part of the emirate's rapidly expanding tourism offering even if just a fraction of it is actually built. But the fantasy of its many theme parks needs to be matched with the reality of underlying demand. Visitors to this year's ATM will view some of the same models that have been doing the rounds of international exhibition halls for half a decade. At some stage they need to be built and if that is unlikely to happen any time soon, is there really a case for making any more models?
Otherwise, navigating a path through all of the multibillion-dollar concepts that are still on display will prove to be as challenging as that boat trip to Greenland in 2005. @Email:scronin@thenational.ae
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Baby Driver
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Lily James
Three and a half stars
If%20you%20go
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Company%20profile
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Sunday:
GP3 race: 12:10pm
Formula 2 race: 1:35pm
Formula 1 race: 5:10pm
Performance: Guns N' Roses
Guns N’ Roses’s last gig before Abu Dhabi was in Hong Kong on November 21. We were there – and here’s what they played, and in what order. You were warned.
- It’s So Easy
- Mr Brownstone
- Chinese Democracy
- Welcome to the Jungle
- Double Talkin’ Jive
- Better
- Estranged
- Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
- Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
- Rocket Queen
- You Could Be Mine
- Shadow of Your Love
- Attitude (Misfits cover)
- Civil War
- Coma
- Love Theme from The Godfather (movie cover)
- Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb cover)
- Wish You Were Here (instrumental Pink Floyd cover)
- November Rain
- Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
- Nightrain
Encore:
- Patience
- Don’t Cry
- The Seeker (The Who cover)
- Paradise City
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Ticket prices
General admission Dh295 (under-three free)
Buy a four-person Family & Friends ticket and pay for only three tickets, so the fourth family member is free
Buy tickets at: wbworldabudhabi.com/en/tickets
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
The%20specs
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Company%20profile
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
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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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Result:
1. Cecilie Hatteland (NOR) atop Alex - 31.46 seconds
2. Anna Gorbacheva (RUS) atop Curt 13 - 31.82 seconds
3. Georgia Tame (GBR) atop Cash Up - 32.81 seconds
4. Sheikha Latifa bint Ahmed Al Maktoum (UAE) atop Peanuts de Beaufour - 35.85 seconds
5. Miriam Schneider (GER) atop Benur du Romet - 37.53 seconds
6. Annika Sande (NOR) atop For Cash 2 - 31.42 seconds (4 penalties)
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.