Gulf Cooperation expects $56bn investment on tourism infrastructure by 2022

Saturday, April 14, 2018

The capital investment by Gulf Cooperation Council in tourism infrastructure to boost business and luxury tourism is expected to reach $56 billion by 2022.

UAE ranked as the most competitive in the region, driven by the development of multiple revolutionary transport projects such as Hyperloop.

The Colliers International said that the lightening-speed, innovative Hyperloop train systems combined with the Haramain High Speed Railway, the development of airports in Saudi Arabia and airport expansion in the UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait will help to transform tourism infrastructure development in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

The Hyperloop and future travel experiences will kick off proceedings on ATM’s Global Stage on April 22. Moderating the session, Richard Dean, a UAE-based business broadcaster and presenter will be joined by a host of high-profile panelists including Sir Tim Clark, president, Emirates Airline, Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM), and Harj Dhaliwal, managing director Middle East and India Operations, Hyperloop One.

Virgin Hyperloop One, a innovative and futuristic transportation concept through which pods, propelled by magnets and solar, will move passengers and cargo at speeds of 1,200kph, is the most prominent tourism infrastructure development in the UAE at present.

Backed by Dubai-based DP World, Hyperloop One has the potential to transport approximately 3,400 people an hour, 128,000 people a day and 24 million people a year.

In November 2016, Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) announced plans to assess a hyperloop connection between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which could reduce travel times between the two emirates by 78 minutes.

While on the other hand airport and cruise terminal expansions are the concerns to increase the tourism. The improved domestic inter-city road and rail work and the growth of low-cost airlines will keep the GCC at the forefront of tourism infrastructure and innovation.

The air passenger arrivals are forecasting to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.3 percent, from 41 million in 2017 to 55 million in 2022.

The cruise tourism in Dubai is expected to grow over the next two years as the emirate targets the arrival of 20 million tourists a year, ahead of Expo 2020. During the 2016-2017 season, Dubai welcomed 650,000 cruise tourists with this figure forecast to increase to one million by 2020.

The massive expansion works at DP World’s Hamdan bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal at Mina Rashid are predictable to contribute to this growth.

Set to be the largest terminal in the world, Hamdan bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal is capable of handling 18,000 travellers every single day.

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