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Dubai - Dubai Parks and Resorts set to open its gates to public on October 31

Dubai Parks and Resorts seeks Dh2.4 billion revenues in its first full year of operations in 2017 through 6.7 million tickets sale following a grand opening on October 31st this year.
The Dubai Financial Market-listed company said construction of the region's largest theme park destination is now moving into the final stage and close to 16,500 workers on site putting the final touches to the large-scale Dh13.2 billion project spreading across 30.6 million square feet of land opposite the Palm Jebel Ali.
"As at the end of June, about 93 per cent overall infrastructure construction was completed, with 84 per cent overall ride system and 80 per cent overall facilities construction complete. Show systems were 60 per cent completed, and we are within our targets for our opening in October this year," Raed Kajoor Al Nuaimi, chief executive officer, Dubai Parks and Resorts, said on Thursday.
Dubai Parks and Resorts will become the Middle East's largest multi-themed leisure and entertainment destination when it opens in October 2016 comprising three separate theme parks - a Hollywood movie inspired theme park concept Motiongate Dubai, the first Legoland theme park in the Middle East Legoland Dubai and Bollywood Parks Dubai, a first-of-its-kind entertainment destination that will showcase the authentic Bollywood movie experience.
The mega theme park development will also host the region's first water park Legoland Water Park while Six Flags Dubai, which is expected to open in late 2019, will be fourth theme park in the project and first Six Flags themed park in the region.
"We are very pleased to announce that we will be meeting our overarching goal to open the destination in October this year with the launch of the first phase of Dubai Parks and Resorts," Al Nuaimi said.
"We plan to launch with full experiences for Bollywood Parks Dubai, Legoland Dubai and Legoland Water Park, Lapita Hotel and Riverland Dubai, while a significant portion of Motiongate Dubai will premiere on October 31st, work on some of the attractions will be ongoing to create the very best experience for guests," he added.
The region is currently leading in terms of the indoor entertainment industry and tourists visit Dubai because of its entertainment and retail attractions. At least six major themeparks are under development - Dubai Parks & Resorts with Motiongate Dubai, Bollywood Parks Dubai and Legoland, IMG Worlds of Adventure, 20th Century Fox World, and Six Flags.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) forecast, UAE attractions can bring about 45 million theme park visitors by 2021 and inbound tourist visits will constitute 30 million. By 2020, the industry is expected to generate close to Dh5 billion in revenues with the help of these upcoming theme parks.
"Dubai's theme parks are set to carve a niche for themselves and will set a benchmark within the global indoor theme park industry. The number of residents and tourists located within eight hours from the UAE also amounts to six billion, making it a strategical place to build such developments," Sharif Rahman, CEO, IEC, said.
"Dubai's leisure and entertainment market is also expected to double in the next six years and we foresee that within the next decade, after the construction of these developments, we can become a serious competition to Orlando and can become one of the best theme park destinations in the world," he added.
 
Dh11.6 billion assets
Al Nuaimi said Dubai Parks and Resorts total assets stood at Dh11.6 billion as at June 30, 2016, primarily comprising Dh7.2 billion in property, equipment and investment properties.
"Our projected revenue for 2017, the first full year of operations, is Dh2.4 billion. For the first two operational months of 2016, projected revenue is Dh297 million generated from 0.9 million visits to our destination," he said.
"Our sales strategy has made significant progress as we have neared our launch date. Our pricing and distribution channels have been finalised and annual passes have been available online since February this year," he added.
He said Dubai Parks and Resorts complemented its domestic sales strategy by signing 24 tour operator cooperation agreements for joint marketing activities in India, the UK and Saudi Arabia.
"We have also signed 30 DMC reseller agreements, and we are currently finalising additional sales and marketing agreements to drive volume from our other key markets in Europe, India, Asia and the GCC region. We have also signed marketing agreements with Emirates for in flight promotions and Fly Dubai for promotion and on board sales."
 
Successful financing
Al Nuaimi said one of the biggest achievements for the business during the period was the successful financing of the second phase of Dubai Parks and Resorts, Six Flags Dubai. He said the total funds required primarily to finance the project was Dh2.67 billion.
"We raised an initial Dh993 million through a syndicated debt facility which was agreed in April 2016 and provided over a third of the project's financing. We then launched an Dh1.68 billion rights issue to complete the financing of Six Flags Dubai. The response to our Rights Issue was extremely positive, and the offer was 1.6 times oversubscribed."
"We broke ground on Six Flags Dubai last month, another key milestone for us this year, and we expect our fourth theme park to be completed in late 2019. Six Flags Dubai is expected to include 27 rides and attractions for all ages across six themed zones: Thrillseeker Plaza, Magic Mountain, Fiesta Texas, Great Escape, Great Adventure, and Great America."
Six Flags Dubai will feature three world record breaking rides in addition to six Roller Coasters, four Aerial Attractions, a 350-metre River Rapids ride and three performance spaces along with many attractions tailored for younger guests.
"We are progressing with our recruitment programmes successfully. We now have 514 full time employees and we have offered an additional 1,600 contracts to regional and international employees following recruitment roadshows held over the past six months.
"In addition, we are focused on recruiting Emirati staff following a specific programme to attract Emirati talent into the theme park sector. As of July we had 249 Emirati nationals waiting to join and 172 currently employed. We are holding further recruitment events in the coming months to bring our total staff to 4,000."
 
Riverland Dubai progress
Al Nuaimi also shared leasing progress at Riverland Dubai and said as of June Dubai Parks and Resorts signed a total of 50 lease proposals for over 80 per cent of the total 234,000 square feet of leasable space.
"We are pleased to announce the addition of household names such as Leopolds of London and Le Pain Quotidien as well as new concepts such as Shrimpy, Wokchi and Haru to our tenant list."
"We broke ground on this project in early 2014, and launched a successful IPO in late 2014 to raise Dh2.6 billion to complete this Dh10.5 billion development," Al Nuaimi concluded.
- muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com