GCC mega events will boost regional economy
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Some of the big one-off events scheduled to take place in the UAE and Qatar over the next six years will give the regional economy a huge boost, according to a new exclusive report.
A survey of senior business leaders in Saudi Arabia and the UAE conducted exclusively for Abu Dhabi newspaper The National by Borderless Access, a Bangalore research firm found Expo 2020 and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar were rated as huge investment and income generators.
However, if Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 for economic growth proves successful, it will make a larger economic contribution in the region than mega events, the survey respondents confirmed.
When asked if Expo 2020 in Dubai, the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and the Vision 2030 programme to transform the Saudi economy would be the main drivers of the regional economy in the coming years, 42% of Saudi respondents strongly agreed, with another 35% simply agreeing with the statement.
The respondents in the UAE were more reserved about the impact of the initiatives, with 33% strongly agreeing and 41% simply agreeing.
A strong majority agreed that these initiatives will support business sentiment in the likelihood that oil prices recover only slowly over the period.
“Whenever there are large-scale and high-visibility national initiatives or global events focused towards a region, we have seen consumer sentiments trending higher,” said Dushyant Gupta, the senior vice president at Borderless Access. “These poll results show similar trends across both markets, and hence the effect being more regional than localised.”
The poll also underlines the differences between the two countries, particularly the more diversified UAE economy versus Saudi Arabia’s urgent need to move away from its greater dependence on oil.
Edward Coughlan, the head of Middle East and North Africa analysis at BMI Research, a business intelligence firm in London, said: “The survey, in our view, broadly reflects the reality of the coming few years in both countries. The UAE is both less exposed to fluctuations in hydrocarbons prices than Saudi Arabia, and the Expo is far smaller in scope than Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.”
The Expo 2020 Executive Body, which oversees the event, has estimated it could generate AED 89 billion to the UAE economy and create more than a quarter million jobs.
The Expo runs from October 2020 to April 2021 and Dubai Tourism has said it expects 25 million visitors over the six-month period, 70% of whom will hail from abroad.
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