Invest Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi is the largest emirate of the United Arab Emirate as well as its capital city. It is thought by some to be the richest city in the world.

For centuries the region was dominated by fishing, pearl as well as Nomadic types of trades. This continued all the way until the mid 20th century. Oil was first found there in 1958. Given the uncertainty of oil on the impact of the economy the current Sheikh at the time saved the money generated by oil revenues. In 1971 the Emirates gained independence from the British and oil production continued to profit the country. The typical nomadic style region was gradually replaced by offices, banks and modern structures.

Tourism

Guggenheim museum

Abu Dhabi is making huge efforts of reducing it’s reliance of oil and other hydrocarbons as the main source of revenue and shifting the emphasis to tourism and services. Its plan is to be similar to its neighbor Dubai which has made a huge landmark in attracting tourism to enjoy its fascinating architecture of hotels and exotic artificially made Islands In 2003 it only had 800000 hotel guests and no government strategy on how to develop tourism.

Cultural landmarks

City planing and real estate

The new gas fields

2 bn USD's worth of assets

Now it is using its enormous oil wealth to create important cultural landmarks like the Louvre and Guggenheim museum, the aim of putting Abu Dhabion top of the world tourism market. Last May the government granted authority to build an Island with a wildlife reserve. Other developments include the UAE Public Library and the National Theatre. The government built a hotel on the Island, expecting the private developers to follow up and further develop the island to compete with other exotic places like Seychelles and the Maldives. The government hopes that tourists will revisit the region for its new cultural developments and not just arrive at a beach destination. For this reason much investment is going to be made to change the culture of the region and not just hope to make profitable developments. The total cost of developing Saadiyat Island, which is where the Louvre and Guggenheim museum are placed is estimated at 27 bn USD.

Abu Dhabi has won a contract to host a Formula One grand Prix. Races will be held in 2009 on the Yas Island. Included in the development is a Ferrari theme park. The government has acquired a 5% share in Ferrari to be able to create some corporate alliance and further improve the emirates’ brand.

To accommodate for this new tourism (which the tourism authority is hoping to attract 3m new guests by the next 8 years) it is estimated that around 100 new hotels need to be built for approximately 25000 rooms. Hotel occupancy rates have already rising from around 60% in 2003 to over 80% in 2006. Economists and investment bankers believe that these expansion plans are realistic with expected demand.  Currently Abu Dhabi has the most expensive hotel in the world called the “Emirates Palace” with a construction cost of over 3 bn USD.

 

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