Brand UAE joins top 20 club

Dubai - Country notches up 19% rise in nation brand value in 2018

Driven by Dubai and complemented by Abu Dhabi, the UAE's nation brand value has seen substantial improvement. This has been due to Expo 2020 Dubai development, new tourist attractions and landmark such as Legoland Dubai, Museum of the Future, Burj Khalifa, judicial system efficiency and reliability of police services.
According to Brand Finance, the UAE's nation brand value, which is based on three key pillars - goods and services, investment and society - grew 19 per cent from $594 billion in 2017 to $707 billion this year. The UAE jumped one place to be ranked 20th most valuable nation brand in the world surpassing countries like China, Norway, Singapore, Austria, Denmark, Finland and New Zealand among others.
In addition, the UAE was also rated third strongest brand in the world with 88.5 score after Singapore (92.4) and Switzerland (90.1).
Studies disclose that Dubai becomes the flagship-brand of the UAE and Abu Dhabi complements this strategy, driving the UAE to the position of the most valuable brand in the Middle East. The UAE's outstanding performance is also attributed to the diversification of its economy, lower reliance on oil, judicial system efficiency, reliability of police services and ethical behaviour of firms.
According to David Haigh, CEO, Brand Finance, the improvement in UAE's ranking is promising, especially in the run up to Expo 2020.
"Construction projects across the emirate are continuing at a fast pace. New world-class theme parks such as Legoland Dubai and Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi have opened their doors to visitors and steady hotel occupancy rates also indicate that the UAE remains a popular tourist destination for visitors from around the world," Haigh said, adding that the country also benefits from high profile sporting events such as Emirates airline Dubai Rugby Sevens and Abu Dhabi Mubadala World Tennis Championships.
Over the last few years, Taimur Khan, research manager at Knight Frank, said there has been a lot of broad offerings from the UAE which attract individuals from around the globe.
"The UAE has become one of the best-known locations for high-quality offerings. Now it is doing at different income levels, attracting middle class from China, India, Pakistan and even closer countries like Saudi Arabia that will drive its brand value," he said, adding that the real estate has been key in this whole scenario.
"Whether Dubai or Abu Dhabi, the UAE has iconic buildings like Burj Khalifa, upcoming new tallest tower in Dubai Creek Harbour and Museum of the Future etc. The brand value of the UAE will continue to increase because of the government's long-term investments. It doesn't need to be purely physical either; the soft infrastructure is important, too. Whether it is for residents or tourists, everything is automated and online, it will also increase brand value of the UAE if it becomes the smartest city in the world with people shopping online, government services going online and payments being made online; all that integration will improve brand value as well," Khan told Khaleej Times in an interview.
Pankaj Gupta, CEO, Gulf Islamic Investments, attributes UAE's strong Nation Brand ranking to its progressive and proactive approach and initiatives like happiness index, preventive health measures and future foundation.
"The UAE nation believes in 'continual' growth. The increasing diversification from the energy sector is a leading example of this. In a short span of time, we are counted as one of the best countries to live in the world. Plus, the excellent state of law and order makes the nation stand apart, giving the global citizens comfort to make it home. Among others, ease of doing business and excellent logistics infrastructure are the two key factors," he said.
Gupta suggested that the UAE government should find more ways to motivate professionals to stay in here for longer period to bring robustness to the economy.
"In addition, government should work on making costs of operations to me more efficient, give incentives to businesses to generate employments and improve higher education opportunities." 
Region's performance
According to the latest Brand Finance Nation Brands report, the UAE topped the nation brand ranking in the GCC region followed closely by Saudi Arabia at 21st with $677 billion, Qatar at 40th with $256 billion and Kuwait at 47th with $209 billion.
Globally, the US maintained its top table ranking as the world's most valuable nation brand at $25.9 trillion, an increase of 23 per cent over last year. Ranked second, China's brand value grew 25 per cent to $12.78 trillion followed by Germany at $5.14 trillion, UK at $3.75 trillion and Japan at $3.6 trillion.
- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com