This report first appeared in Gulf Marketing Review's June 2008 issue. The full report with statistics is available for download at the bottom of this page.

Overview

Tourism attractions and leisure spots in the UAE are constantly increasing. Among the top leisure attractions are the Ferrari Theme Park, the Warner Bros Theme Park, Universal Studios and Six Flags Theme Park, which are all currently under construction. In addition to the above mentioned theme parks, Dubai Autodrome which is already running is also one of the top attractions.

Universal Studios is aimed to be an integrated leisure, residential, family tourism and entertainment destination, with a focus on entertainment for the whole family. Warner Bros Theme Park aims to include a hotel, cinemas, theme park, and video computer games, with a focus on arts & culture. Ferrari Theme Park includes 24 themed attractions for the entire family. Attractions include rides, go-karting, rally driving, dune buggies and an 18-screen theater complex. Six Flags, on the other hand will include theme parks, branded restaurants, hotels and retail outlets that will offer travel and vacation opportunities for tourists. Finally, Dubai Autodrome is a targeted motor sport facility. It includes an FIA 5.39km sanctioned circuit, but also incorporates a Race & Driving school and a CIK approved Karting track.

Media Coverage

Universal Studios messages were primarily on it being under construction with aim to take advantage of opportunities in the UAE and it is expected to be ready by 2010. It also featured messages on the Universal Studios in Japan which was built in 2001 and on its visitors rising by 10%.

Warner Bros Theme Park only had messages on it being under construction and that it aims to take advantage of opportunities in the UAE. Ferrari Theme Park only had messages on it being under construction. Six Flags penetrated messages on its construction, on it signing a licensing accord with Gulf Finance House and on its alliance with Tatweer.

Finally, Dubai Autodrome had by far the biggest number of mentions and messages. It featured mentions on the facilities of the autodrome, messages on its Kartdome with its high-tech tracks, mentions on David Terrain, the French multiple karting champion who’s now part of the Dubai Autodrome management, mentions on Herbert claiming the Speedcar title, mentions on the Dubai Autodrome being listed as one of the region’s best tracks and one of the tourism attractions. The majority of the messages were on the Dubai Autodrome hosting many events, such as the Grand Racing Weekend, Nivea for Men Professional, press coference to announce the 2008 HSBC racing academy drivers, Speedcar Championship, spin for special needs children, Superstock Bikes Championship, Rotax Max Challenge at the Kartdome, The Safety Training Course at Race & Driving Center and the UAE National and DAMC Championship.

Dubai Autodrome came in 1st in all the categories. It had the highest amount of coverage, the highest RAVE amount, highest coverage size, highest impressions and highest prominence value. Ferrari Theme Park came in 5th place in terms of prominence, while Six Flags came in 2nd place in terms of prominence. Universal Studios came in 4th place in terms of prominence value, while Warner Bros Theme Park came in 3rd place.

Dubai Autodrome had 73 manifest mentions and 17 latest mentions, while Ferrari Theme Park had only 6 latent mentions. Warner Bros. Theme Park had 1 manifest mention and 3 latent mentions, while Six Flags had 9 manifest mentions and 3 latent mentions. Finally Universal Studios had 6 manifest mentions and 7 latent mentions.

Dubai Autodrome had 72 mentions resultant from PR out of 90 total mentions. Ferrari Theme Park and Warner Bros. Theme Park had no coverage resultant from direct PR. Six Flags had an astonishing 10 out 12 mentions due to PR. Finally, Universal Studios had 2 out of 13 mentions resultant from PR.

Dubai Autodrome had 72 positive reputation drivers, and 18 mentions which had no reputation drivers. Ferrari Theme Park only had mentions void of reputation drivers. Warner Bros. Theme Park had 1 positive reputation driver and 3 non-reputation drivers. Six Flags had 7 positive reputation drivers and 5 non-reputation drivers. Finally, Universal Studios had 3 positive reputation drivers and 10 non-reputation drivers. None of the attractions had any negative reputation drivers.

Survey Findings

A pool of 479 from the UAE and 775 from KSA were asked to respond to the question, ‘Which of the theme parks, do you consider more appropriate for each of the age categories?’ Options ranged from pre-teens, tweens, teens, young adults, adults and none.

Ferrari Theme Park was predominately voted for as appropriate for adults of 23+ in the UAE market. Emiratis thought its most appropriate for 15-17 year olds, while Arab Expats thought its most appropriate for 18-22 year olds. Age didn’t play much of a role, however, income did. The higher the income, the more they seem to think its more appropriate for an older age group. Males tend to think Ferrari Theme Park is more appropriate for the younger generations, while females do not share the same notion. The Saudi market, predominantly placed Ferrari Theme Park as most appropriate for 15-22 year olds. The younger survey participants thought its appropriate for the older age group, while the older participants thought its appropriate for the younger age group. The general pattern is that those with higher income, generally think it’s more suitable for adults, however, those with very high income, think its most suitable for pre-teens. Males tend to think it’s more suitable for the young age group.

Six Flags was thought to be generally more suitable for 18 year olds and up in the UAE market. All age groups seemed to agree that its more suitable for adults, which is odd considering the facilities Six Flags has. The higher the income, the more they seem to perceive Six Flags to be for the younger age group. However, they all seemed to think that its most suitable for 18 year olds and up. The Saudi market also thought its most suitable for 18 year olds and up. Interestingly, participants who were above 50 in age, thought Six Flags is most appropriate for 12-17 year olds. Interestingly, those with incomes of $8,000 and above, thought it to be significantly more suitable for adults.

The UAE market generally perceived Warner Bros. Theme Park to be most suitable for 6-14 year olds. All nationalities and age groups seem to generally agree with that. Interestingly, those with incomes of $2,666-$5,332 seem to think that its suitable for all age groups more or less, equally. The Saudi market placed Warner Bros. Theme Park to be most suitable for 12-17 year olds. Nationality did not have an impact on this perception. The higher the income of the participants, the more they thought its most suitable for the younger age groups. Interestingly, males tend to think its more for the younger age group, while females tend to think its most suitable for the older age group.

As for Universal Studios, the UAE market thought it to be most suitable for 15 year olds and up. There seemed to be a subtle relation between age and perception of which age group its most suitable for. The higher the age of the participants the more they thought its more suitable for the older age group. Interestingly, females thought it most suitable for the younger age group, while males thought its most suitable for the older age group. The Saudi market thought its most suitable for 15-22 year olds. The higher the age, the more they think its suitable for the older age group. Interestingly, males tend to think that its significantly more suitable for 12-14 year olds.

The UAE market placed Dubai Autodrome to be most suitable for 18 year olds and up. Interestingly, Emiratis thought its most suitable for 15-22 year olds, while Arab Expatriates, Asians and others thought its most suitable for 18 year olds and up. Westerners thought its most suitable for 23 year olds and up. The Saudi market thought its most suitable for 15-22 year olds as well. The higher the age, the more they thought its suitable for the older age groups.

Conclusion

It is difficult to say whether the above-mentioned attractions are doing a good job or not in terms of communicating what they stand for to the public, as all with the exception of Dubai Autodrome are still under construction. However, a few patterns are visible. For starters, people are always hungry for entertainment and so those with financial ability tend to attribute themselves as a target audience for those attractions.

Another interesting point is that despite the claimed target being for the entire family, messages are not being communicated properly. The messages in the media are predominately on it being under construction, while the messages need to be more defined and differentiated.

Another visible pattern is the difference in perception between Six Flags and Warner Bros Theme Park. Warner Bros Theme Park is a recognizable brand, and this brand perception plays a role in people’s understanding of what the theme park entails. In the case of Six Flags, the higher the income, the more people think it’s for a younger age group, while exactly the opposite pattern is present for Water Bros Theme Park. This can be attributed to the fact that most people are not aware of what Six Flags is.

Very interestingly, the only age group that seems to recognize the residential aspect of Universal Studios is the ‘50+’ group in the Saudi market. This problem is not present in the UAE market, as the messages are getting across better in the UAE media.

It may be advisable to diversify messages’ content from being purely on its construction to defining the attraction and to paint a vision of what it’ll be like once completed, in order to reach their target audience more properly and to generate excitement and demand for them at an early stage.