Uzbek Tourism: a comprehensive Analysis

                                

 Fig 1: photo of Uzbekistan. Source: traveltourist.net

         

Uzbekistan is a central Asian country rich in culture and heritage and blessed with exotic landscapes. Prior to becoming a free state in 1991, it was the part of USSR. Though considered as a lower middle income, developing nation; it is enjoying a high GDP growth rate and a high literacy of 99 percentages.  It is one of the two doubly land locked (a land locked country surrounded by land locked countries) countries in the world. The other is Liechtenstein. Uzbekistan aspires to become a tourist hub par excellence. The given report will analyze Uzbekistan as a tourist hub, its present status and its future potential.

Uzbekistan: country profile

The following part of report will give a brief description of Uzbekistan across economical and social parameters.

Fig 2: shows GDP growth rates of Uzbekistan Vis a Vis World, from 2000-10. Source:  World Bank

Fig 3: shows the GDP (PPP) of Uzbekistan in US $ billions from 2002-10. Source: World Bank

Table 1: shows values for Uzbekistan for some selected social parameters.

Uzbekistan: Tourism statistics

The following charts will show the tourism statistics of Uzbekistan

Fig 4: shows the tourism receipt for Uzbekistan for 2007-10, in US $ millions. Source: Euromonitor

Fig 5: shows total no. of world heritage sites in Uzbekistan in comparison to other countries in the nearby region of Central Asia, Europe and Middle East. Source: UNESCO

Table 2:  Hotel statistics for Uzbekistan. (Figures are based on the data generated by a website called “Sairam Travels” & may not be exactly correct.)

Fig 7: shows the aircraft departure statistics (most recent by countries). Source: nationmaster.com

Fig 8: shows the per capita emission of CO2 in Metric Tons for Uzbekistan, in comparison to other countries in the nearby region of Central Asia, Europe and Middle East. Source: World Bank

Uzbekistan: types of tourism

Uzbekistan has huge potential for developing into an exotic tourist destination. The Central Asian country is blessed with plethora of archaeological sites and exotic landscapes. The govt. of Uzbekistan is seeking huge investments in developing infrastructure and promoting the county as a great tourist destination. Around 85 percentage of the tourist visiting the nation are 55 or above. (eturbonews.com, 2011). They like the calm and serene atmosphere of Uzbek cities and come here for visiting archaeological sites and monuments dating back to Alexander & Zoroastrian era. Major tourist cities are- Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva etc. Major tourism period is April, May and September, October. The major types of tourism in Uzbekistan are as follows:

·         Cultural and Historical tourism: tourism in Uzbekistan is primarily centered on cultural tourism. Situated on the cross roads of Silk Road, Uzbekistan is home to around 4000 historical and architectural monuments. It has a plethora of archaeological sites to offer- mosques, mausoleums, palaces, forts, ruined Buddhist temples, monasteries & statues etc.

·         Recreational, Adventure and Nature tourism: Uzbekistan has a wide range of contrasting landscapes & natural beauties - mountains, valleys, desserts, forests, rivers etc. It offers various types of adventure activities such as- trekking, mountain climbing, water sports, river rafting, safaris, bird watching, hunting, fishing, horseback riding etc.  It also has lot of mineral rich springs; hence making it great potential hub for recreational tourism.

·         Business tourism: this fastest growing central Asian country is a potential hub for business related/ MICE activities (meetings, incentive travels, conferences and exhibitions). Fast GDP growth rate, plenty of oil, natural gas and minerals along with an availability of a gamut of cultural & natural offerings can transform it into a regional business tourist’s hub.

·         Religious and Spiritual tourism: many tourists visit Uzbekistan for religious and spiritual purpose. It has a wide range of religious sites such as mosques, tombs, Sufi shrines etc. There are more than 160 Muslim relics located in Uzbekistan.

·         Dental & Medical tourism: Uzbekistan has established state of the art dental clinics in Tashkent and other major cities in the country. These clinics are equipped with top quality, instruments & human expertise.  One of the remarkable feature of these clinics are that- these are much economical than clinics in Europe and Russia.  

UZBEKISTAN: WEB PRESENCE

The following charts and figures will show the web presence of brand Uzbekistan.

Fig 4: shows the number of search results in millions, for Google and Yahoo, on typing, tourism in .   All the nations in the list are developing nation, with population lying between 2o to 40 millions. 

Fig 9: shows number of reviews in Trip Advisor, related to various countries along with Uzbekistan. Source: Trip Advisor. 

Fig 10: shows, number of search result in You Tube, on typing , for instance: Poland tourism. Source: You Tube. 

UZBEKISTAN TOURISM: SWOT ANALYSIS

The following part will do a SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and threat) analysis of tourism industry in Uzbekistan.

Strengths

·         Uzbekistan is witnessing high GDP growth rate. Since 2005, its GDP is growing with more than 7 percentages.

·          It has plethora of archaeological sites and natural beauties to offer.

·         It enjoys strong social infrastructure. For instance the literacy rate is exorbitantly high at 99 percentages.

·         The cities of Uzbekistan are known to be calm and peaceful, often loved by cultural lovers and senior tourists.

·         Strategically Uzbekistan is placed on the cross roads of the silk route. Situated in central Asia, it is close to Europe, cash rich Gulf States as well as emerging powers like Russia, China and India.

·         Govt. at Uzbekistan is keeping tourism  high up on their agendas.

Weakness   

·         So far the tourism receipt and arrival have been abysmally low. Uzbekistan still has a long way to go to catch up other major tourist destinations such as Turkey, UAE and Greece in the region.

·         Uzbekistan is definitely placed in a strategic location, favorable for tourism industry, but it also a region blessed with some heavy weights of tourism industry. The Middle East & Central Asia region has two of the top 10 visited cities of the world- Dubai & Istanbul. (enjoyourholiday.com, 2011)

·         Uzbekistan’s tourism industry has abysmally low web presence; as depicted by figure 8,9  and 10, it is even much lower than places like Syria and Romania, not considered as popular tourist destination.  

·         Across the world there is a perception that Uzbekistan offers only cultural & archaeological sites to visit. The adventurous and recreational aspects are still vastly unknown. (eturbonews.com, 2011)

·         It lacks state of the art airlines, convention centers and hotels to bolster its ambition. For instance take the example of small Gulf state UAE, which has got some world class airlines, hotels and convention centers such as- Emirates, Etihad, DWTC, ADNEC, Burj al Arab, Emirates palace etc.  In contrast to this, Uzbekistan does not have such resources.     

Opportunities   

·         The govt. of Uzbekistan is implementing strong measures to promote it as a tourist destination. This will surely influence the industry in the coming time.

·         There are many unexplored tourist places in Uzbekistan. With the help of better marketing strategy, there true potential could be realized.

·         With large amount of mineral sources and spring in the mountain region, Uzbekistan has huge potential for recreational tourism.

·         There are also lot of potential for other forms of tourisms- medical (dental), business and adventure.

·         Uzbekistan is close to 3 of the 4 BRIC nations (Russia, India & China) both geographically as well as culturally. These nations moving along high growth trajectories will constitute a major portion of the outbound tourism in the coming time.  Geographical proximity along with well integrated communication strategy can help Uzbekistan win a substantial pie of outbound tourists from these nations.  

Threat

·         Many countries in the neighboring countries are also keeping tourism high up on their economic agenda. From Qatar to Turkey everywhere ambitious development plans are being incubated such as- Qatar 2022, Turkey 2023, Abu Dhabi 2030, Dubai 2015 etc. Once the plans will get realized, tourism sector across Central Asia & Middle would become very challenging. Such a competitive space may not be favorable for Uzbek tourism industry to up it's ante in the region.

UZBEKISTAN TOURISM: Road map to success

After analyzing the statistics of Uzbekistan, followed by a “SWOT” analysis; it could be inferred that it has all the potential of becoming a successful tourist destination. it is blessed with a large number of archaeological sites and natural treasures. It also has modern tourism infrastructure and is moving across high growth trajectories. In spite of the inherent potential, the statistics so far has been very disappointing. One of the prime reason could be the Uzbekistan has been grossly misunderstood as a nation and as a tourist destination; primarily may be due to minimal efforts in marketing Uzbekistan on part of the concerned authorities. The following part of the report, will discuss a few strategies, which might lead Uzbekistan to success.

Communication, Communication & Communication                

Uzbekistan seems to be suffering from lot of ignorance from tourists across the globe. In spite of having a unique cultural identity, it seems to be perceived as yet another USSR state. Though tough and challenging, it is impediment for Uzbekistan to build a unique brand proposition for itself, which can be done only by more and more communications. It needs to establish itself as one of the fastest growing Central Asian countries, situated on the cross roads of East and West. Uzbekistan is a country which is not only blessed with plethora of archaeological sites and natural treasures; but also armored with modern tourism infrastructure. But until unless, the idea will not be communicated to the myriad tourist spread across the globe, the tourist statistics are not going to get a boosting. So, one of the very 1^st thing it is supposed to do is, advertise and market itself- strongly, largely and widely.  Let the world hear the herald of a new tourist destination!   

The concluding part of the debate will be discussing few of the possible measures, which Uzbekistan can take to transform itself into successful marketing destination.

Strong Web presence

The present landscape of communication is getting transformed. The strong space enjoyed so far by traditional media such as prints, TV and Radio broadcast is encroached upon by the digital media. Unfortunately Uzbekistan still does not seem to be equipped well enough, to adapt itself to the new media landscape. It has an abysmally low web presence across all the major web platforms. Even countries like Syria or Romania, primarily not considered as popular tourist destinations have much stronger web presence than Uzbekistan. In the present time, Uzbekistan cannot afford to have a low web presence. It needs to implement a fully fledged digital media marketing strategy; utilizing regular web platforms such as- websites, banner ads, articles etc; along with social media platforms such as- Face Book, blogs, You Tube etc. 

Cater to China & India

China and India are among the fastest growing outbound tourism markets in the world. With a collective population of around 2.4 billion and high GDP growth rates; they are going to influence the future of tourism heavily.  In India outbound tourism expenditures have grown from US $ 1.3 billion to US $ 8.2 billion in 2007.  Outbound tourist departures have grown from 3.7 million in 1997 to 9.7 million in 2007 (European Travel Commission, 2009). In case of China it is even much stronger. According to figures released by China Tourism Authority (CTA), China had witnessed an international departure of 51 million, growth of 20 % over last year (Dragon Trail, 2011).  Uzbekistan is geographically close to both of them and had shared cultural ties with both the emerging giants since ages. It is high time to leverage it. A unique marketing strategy catering to the two emerging giants can be a good pay off in near future.

Statistics should be made public

Statistics on Uzbekistan are not readily available, even they are not considered very reliable. There are many popular web platforms such as- Budgetyourtrip.com, cost of living index website etc, often used by a large number of tourists worldwide, where data pertaining to Uzbekistan is missing. Similarly, in the annual WEF travel and tourism competitiveness index; an annual report comprising of travel and tourism statistics of almost all the nations in the globe; Uzbekistan is absent. Non availability of data in such an important publication can be detrimental to Uzbek tourism industry and its aspirations. Uzbekistan needs to come up with relevant data and circulate it across all the relevant platforms both off and online. Even if the data are not very attractive, it will help consolidate the image of Uzbekistan as a liberal, modern and globalized state.            

   

Reference

1>    Eturbonews.com, 2011, Uzbekistan working to attract youth to stretch tourism season, available at http://www.eturbonews.com/25816/uzbekistan-working-attract-youth-stretch-tourism-season

2>    Enjouyyourholiday.com, 2011, top 10 visited cities of the world, available http://www.enjoyourholiday.com/2011/04/18/top-10-most-visited-cities-in-the-world/

3>    Eturbonews.com, 2011, Uzbekistan working to attract youth to stretch tourism season, available at http://www.eturbonews.com/25816/uzbekistan-working-attract-youth-stretch-tourism-season

4>    European Travel Commission, 2009, abstract, available at < http://www.etc-corporate.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=236 >

5>    Dragon Trail, 2011, China soaring towards new tourism records, available at http://www.chinatraveltrends.com/2011/11/china-soaring-towards-new-tourism-records-more-than-2-billion-domestic-and-over-50-million-outbound-travellers-in-the-first-nine-months-of-2011/

SWOT Analysis of SME segment of UAE

                      fig: Abu Dhabi( source: emiratespalaceabudhabi.com)    

For any nation a vibrant SME  (small and medium enterprise) segment does not only play an important role in providing vibrancy to the national economy but also  a very important role in providing employment and unwinding entrepreneurial spirit of the population. In the following blog author will be doing a SWOT analysis of the SME sector at UAE.

SME primarily means small and medium enterprises. Different nations have different definitions for the SME segment. According to the definition by European Union companies with up to; 250 employees come under medium enterprise, 50 employees come under small enterprise and 10 come under micro enterprises. Another global definition has been defined by Standard Charted bank that places any organization with a turnover of US $ 1 Million to US $ 25 Million under the SME segment.

SME segment has the following advantage:-

• It’s an important constituent of economy and a major source of employment for many of the emerging economies across the world. In many of the economies around 90% of the non oil GDP comes from the SME segment. SMEs constitute 50% of the global GDP and employs 85% of the world population. (Dun and Bradstreet, 2008)

• Helps in realizing entrepreneurial zeal and creativity of individuals.

• Helps in diversification of the economy.

• Due to ease of entry and exit into the SME segment, it helps  building more elastic and competitive economies.

Along with the usual benefits, SMEs do have their own disadvantages that are as follows:

• These are usually small companies lacking management capacities.

• They find it tough to afford various support services such as, financial services, HR services, IT support etc, which hampers their productivity.

• SMEs have been hit hard by the global economic crisis on two fronts, due to credit crunch as well as customers owing money to them finding it tough to pay back. This had resulted in closing down of many of the SMEs across the globe.

Government across the entire MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and GCC (gulf cooperative council) are emphasizing strongly on the SME segments. UAE one of the important constituent of the GCC has got a very strong SME segment with more than 70% of the non oil GDP coming from the SME segment (Chris Bruin, 2010). The major Emirates of UAE , both Dubai as well as Abu Dhabi have got ambitious socio economic development plans in the form of Dubai 2015 and Abu Dhabi 2030 with a strong focus on SME segment.

The following table shows some important facts and figures regarding the SME segment in UAE

SMEs by Emirates and Sector (Source: Dun & Bradstreet, 2008)

 SWOT Analysis of SME sector in UAE

Strengths:

• Strong economy: as a nation UAE is a rich country with huge oil, trade and tourism revenue. This helps in providing the required institutional support for the emerging SMEs in the Emirates.

• Rise of oil prices: the rise of oil prices have resulted in stronger economy for UAE, eventually resulting into stronger confidence among the business fraternity and higher disposable income for consumption. This will surely have positive impact on the SME segment. (Emirates 24/7, 2011)

• Efficient government: The govt. authorities at UAE are known for their efficiency and speed of execution. As a part of their plans for Emiratization and economic diversification, they are keeping the SME segment high up on their agenda. Both at Abu Dhabi and Dubai associations, intended for encouraging and supporting SME segments, had been formed.

• Intra Regional trade: SMEs are expected to be benefitted by the rise in trade across the MENA region. (Emirates 24/7, 2011)

• Strategic position: UAE is placed strategically between the cross roads of West and East and North and South. This strategic position helps it to attract and retain businesses and human resource talent from all across the globe.

• There had been rapid growth in lending activities for the SME sector in the recent years, from 2003 to 2008 there had been an increase of 200% in lending activities for individuals for business purpose. Along with domestic banks many of the MNC banks like Standard Charted and HSBC have their dedicated business units at UAE, catering specifically to the SME segment. Some of the banks active in SME lending in the given geography are- HSBC, Mashreq, RAK, Union national bank, ADCB, Citi bank etc (Dun & Bradstreet, 2008)

• SMEs can also draw strength from the Inherent strength of Dubai and Abu Dhabi as trading hubs and regional financial centers.

Weakness

• In spite of a booming SME segment, they keep facing various challenges in the form of high start up cost and difficult access to capital. In spite of growth in credit for SMEs, most of the individual businesses still complain about lack of capital. According to a research conducted by Dun & Bradstreet loan rejection  has been estimated to be in the range of 50 to 70%.

• Other challenges include high registration fee, high rental charges, information asymmetry etc. (Dun and Bradstreet, 2009)

• SMEs are vulnerable to low financial buffer, low margins and high operating cost.

• In UAE though some 90 percentage of the firms come under the SME segment where as SME also contribute one third of the GDP, the figure is still low in comparison to other developed and emerging economies where the contribution of the SME segment is around 60 percentage.

Opportunities

• SMEs will get a great boost by the abolishment of the minimum capital requirement of US $ 40, 000 (150,000 DH) for setting up of a limited liability company in UAE. (Dun & Bradstreet, 2009)

• Some of the SMEs are quite competent. Around 58% of them are expected to be operating internationally by 2013. (Emirates 24/7, 2011)

• SMEs at UAE are also expected to be benefited by the increase in international activities by the SMEs worldwide. It is expected that by 2013, number of SMEs worldwide, conducting international activities will increase from 29 % to 40 %. (Emirates 24/7, 2011)

• As a part of their economic growth plans, the Emirates of UAE are planning to diversify into various alternate industries other than the usual ones like petroleum, tourism trading etc such as petrochemicals, education, media, metal works, aerospace, telecommunications etc. Such industries will require a cluster of SMEs working around them and providing various types of support and enabling functions. This will surely boost the SME segment at UAE.

• The Emirates in UAE are coming up with new platforms to encourage and support SMEs. Mohammed Bin Rashid establishment for young business leader had been established in 2002, which specializes in providing financial assistance, training and inspiration to UAE nationals in starting their own business. Another such initiative is “SME 100” that awards top 100 SMEs in Dubai. The Khalifa fund provides funds and training for startups at Abu Dhabi. Such strong initiatives taken by the government will definitely help the SME segment in the long run.

Threats

• As a region Middle East is susceptible to political unrest and turmoil. Though UAE has one of the most popular, efficient and transparent govt. in practice and there is no threat of any impending political unrest in the gulf state, but since the MENA region as a whole is prone to political upheavals, it can affect the intra regional trade, considered very important for the SME segment.

• Compared to other emerging and developed economies, SMEs at UAE are still not matured enough.

• Growing globalization will pose new competitive challenge to the SMEs at UAE.

• SMEs at UAE will also be prone to threat from the bigger industries of UAE. The SMEs will find it hard to match them in terms of management and technical skills, quality and cost effectiveness which their bigger counterparts can produce on account of their scale.

As any other business entity, the SME segment at UAE has its own pros and cons. Some of the them are  structural while some are  conditional. Beyond the given pros and cons, one thing that can not be denied is that, SMEs definitely had a great role to play in the nearby future of the UAE and the govt. authorities in association with private sector  will not prefer keeping any stone unturned in further boosting and encouraging the sector.

Reference:

1> Chris B, 2010, Supporting SME essential for UAE’s growth, Emirates 24/7, available at http://www.emirates247.com/2.308/comment/supporting-smes-essential-for-uae-growth- 2010-06-30-1.261304

2> Dun and Bradstreet, 2008, D&B business insight series: SME lending in UAE 2008, p-3, available at< http://www.dnbsame.com/downloads/D&B_SME.pdf >

3> Emirates 24/7, 2011, 58% UAE SME to go global in 2 years, available at http://www.emirates247.com/business/economy-finance/58-uae-smes-to-go-global-in-2-years-2011-01- 23-1.345825

4> Emirates 24/7, 2011, 58% UAE SME to go global in 2 years, available at http://www.emirates247.com/business/economy-finance/58-uae-smes-to-go-global-in-2-years-2011-01- 23-1.345825

5> Dun and Bradstreet, 2008, D&B business insight series: SME lending in UAE 2008, p-3, available at< http://www.dnbsame.com/downloads/D&B_SME.pdf >

6> Dun & Bradstreet, 2009, Challenges still remain despite removal of LLC capital, available at < http://www.dnbsame.com/news_aug20.html >

7> Dun & Bradstreet, 2009, Challenges still remain despite removal of LLC capital, available at < http://www.dnbsame.com/news_aug20.html >

8> Emirates 24/7, 2011, 58% UAE SME to go global in 2 years, available at http://www.emirates247.com/business/economy-finance/58-uae-smes-to-go-global-in-2-years-2011-01- 23-1.345825

9> Emirates 24/7, 2011, 58% UAE SME to go global in 2 years, available at http://www.emirates247.com/business/economy-finance/58-uae-smes-to-go-global-in-2-years-2011-01- 23-1.345825

Analysis of MICE Industry in Abu Dhabi

                                                Source: Manchester City webpage                                       

In the past few blogs the author has analyzed the rapid emergence of Middle East  as a favorable destination for MICE (meetings, incentive travel, conferences, exhibitions) related activities. One of the state that is making huge strides in developing itself as a word class destination for business tourism is Abu Dhabi. In the past few years it had conducted some world class events like World green tourism congress, World health care congress Middle East, Formula 1 grand prix, Red bull race, Rally Abu Dhabi to name a few and is considered as second best MICE destination in Middle East next to Dubai(HotelierMidddleEast.com, 2010) . Travel websites like lonely planets and Frommers have voted Abu Dhabi among top 10 business destinations in the world (HotelierMidddleEast.com, 2010). In the following blog the author will attempt to do a detailed SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and weakness) analysis for the MICE industry of Abu Dhabi.

Strengths:-

• Infrastructure:- Abu Dhabi has got a very strong infrastructure to support its blooming MICE industry. It has got state of the art convention centers, hotels, airlines and logistic facilities. At the fore front of conducting business events in Abu Dhabi is the ADNEC (Abu Dhabi national exhibition center). Established in 2007 it has a total area of 73000 SQ Meter with sitting capacity of 6000 and additional standing capacity of 8000, it is the biggest convention center in UAE. In 2008 in conducted 73 (with 1.5 million visitors) events where as in 2009 it conducted 119 events (ADNEC website, 2010). Other than ADNEC hotels like Emirate palace and YAS hotel have built their own facilities to conduct business events. Emirates palace have auditorium and a ball room with a capacity of 1100 and 2400 respectively. (Rebecca B, 2009)

• Govt. authorities: - none of the business can take off in a nation until unless the govt. authorities are not serious enough. Fortunately one of the biggest strength of the MICE industry of Abu Dhabi is the extremely pro active govt. authorities. MICE activities are at the top of the Socio-Economic agenda of the govt. of UAE/ Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi tourism authority (ADTA) is investing hugely both in infrastructure as well as marketing to project Abu Dhabi as a world class tourist destination. Some of the major steps taken by ADTA are as follows: -

a) It came up with “ Advantage Abu Dhabi” campaign which is basically a venture capitalist kind of apparatus that provides financial as well as non financial support to various meeting planners and professional conference organizers( PCOs) in organizing meetings and business events in Abu Dhabi across 12 strategic sectors which include petrochemicals, aviation, education, transportation, logistic, media , financial services etc. (abudhabitourism website, 2009)

b) In 2007 in order to boost MICE business ADTA formed a MICE advisory committee which consisted of players from various related industries such as convention centers, hotels, tourism development and aviation etc. This industry advisory committee will provide a common platform for various players to communicate with each other and work for better infrastructure development, product development, bid opportunities etc. (ameinfo.com, 2009)

c) ADTA is taking strong initiatives to market Abu Dhabi across the world. Deals are signed with various countries, offices are opened across the globe and marketing campaigns are conducted at various parts of the world.

• Abu Dhabi is among the major petroleum producers of the world. This gives it a natural advantage in conducting meetings and events related to the petroleum industry. On the fore front of  oil and gas exhibitions is Abu Dhabi international petroleum exhibition center (ADIPEC).

• Other than convention centers and hotels Abu Dhabi has a wide ranges of places to visit which includes state of the art malls, shopping centers of leading international fashion brands, golf courses, clubs, spas, restaurants, mosques etc.

• Clean environment, crime free society and a stable political system.

Weakness

• Like its cousin state Dubai, Abu Dhabi is also very expensive. In the latest “Mercers costliest cities of the world list” it holds 50th position where as previous year it was having 26th position.

• Abu Dhabi lacks moderately priced economical accommodations. It has some of the best luxury hotels in the world but lacks  3star/ 4 star hotels often preferred by many business travelers. Though recently it is coming up with such decently priced accommodations such as the Aloft hotel at ADNEC, Holiday Inn, and other 3star/4star hotels on YAS islands. (Rebecca B, 2009)

Opportunities:-

• GIBTM: - GIBTM or Gulf incentive business travel and meeting exhibition is the part of five 5-star exhibitions conducted for the meeting industry across the globe by “Reed International Exhibition”. Conducted every year at ADNEC Abu Dhabi it provides a strong platform for the various buyers and sellers of MICE industry to interact with each other and discuss business. It helps in showcasing the strength of Abu Dhabi’s MICE industry to the whole world. Such events are bringing as well as will be bringing much more businesses in the nearby future.

• Abu Dhabi has made as well as making huge investments in various sorts of tourism such as sports tourism, leisure tourism and cultural tourism. It is building a cultural district with in the Sadiyat Island, which once completed will be the biggest cultural center in the world. Very recently it had successfully conducted the formula one grand prix. [According to one of the govt. official it had a plan to invest 230 Billion US dollars in tourism sector in the next five years. (guide2dubai.com, 2011) ]Hence it seems various alternate forms of tourism at Abu Dhabi have a very bright future. This will surely have a positive impact on the business tourism as well since various forms of tourism are interdependent on each other.

• Geo graphical location of Abu Dhabi that puts it at the cross road of various business centers of Europe, Asia and North Africa can be an advantage for the Emirate.

• It is assumed that oil reserves at Abu Dhabi will last for another 150 years ensuring free flow of capital needed for the industry.

Threats:-

• The MICE industry at Abu Dhabi will have to fight against stronger and well established players like London, Singapore etc.

• In Middle East region Abu Dhabi is still far behind of Dubai in attracting business travelers. Lot of new places in the region like Doha, Bahrain and Muscat etc are catching up very fast in developing their business tourism facility. These places can put some real challenge to Abu Dhabi.

• Since business tourism is a very lucrative business and it has got huge strategic significance ,many places across the globe are keeping it high on their socio-economic agendas. Places like Cape Town, Sanghai, Taipei, Beijing etc are emerging as strong destinations for business tourism.

• So far most of the talent required for the industry comes from the vast pools of expats. There is always a threat of these populations getting relocated to some other part of the globe. Though the chances are low but this might create some scarcity of talent. (Though recently Abu Dhabi has started taking this seriously and Emiratization of the work force is one of its prime agendums.)

References:-

1> HotelierMidddleEast.com, 2010, Gulf MICE industry has bright future, available at < http://www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/7655-gulf-mice-industry-has-bright-future/ >

2> HotelierMidddleEast.com, 2010, Gulf MICE industry has bright future, available at < http://www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/7655-gulf-mice-industry-has-bright-future/ >

3> ADNEC website, 2010, ADNEC to advance Abu Dhabi’s MICE development agenda at GIBTM 2010, available at < http://www.adnec.ae/press/viewPress.php?id=1269516895 >

4> Rebecca B, 2009, MICE industry takes off in Abu Dhabi, eTurboNews, available at < http://www.eturbonews.com/12842/mice-industry-takes-abu-dhabi >

5> Abu Dhabi tourism website, 2009, ADTA is to assume lead arranger role in an ambitious tourism initiative, available at < http://www.abudhabitourism.ae/en/news/advantage.abudhabi.to.super.mice.segment.aspx >

6> Ameinfo.com, 2009, ADTA forms MICE advisory panel, available at < http://www.ameinfo.com/126173.html >

7> Rebecca B, 2009, MICE industry takes off in Abu Dhabi, eTurboNews, available at < http://www.eturbonews.com/12842/mice-industry-takes-abu-dhabi >

8> Guide2dubai.com, 2011, Abu Dhabi plans a 230 Billion US dollar investment in tourism sector, available at < http://www.guide2dubai.com/808-Abu-Dhabi-plans-$230bn-investment-in-tourism-sector.html >