Special Features
Dubai Taking Tourism to the Extreme
Dubai is familiar with the concept of extreme. The booming tourism and business hub is currently building the world’s tallest building, the largest man-made islands, and already hosts some of the most luxurious hotels in the world.Now the Emirate is gearing up to offer another sampling of the extreme – skydiving, surfing, skateboarding and mountain biking, to name a few.
According to Al Gosling, CEO of the Extreme Group, the Dubai government is set on becoming a world sporting and leisure hub, using both extreme and mainstream sports to pull people to the buzzing Gulf destination.
Dubai has all the necessary ingredients to become a world sporting capital, he says.
“Scenic locations, sun and sand are no longer the only magnets for today’s holiday makers,” said Gosling at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference last month, noting that travelers are increasingly looking for "active holidays" and a sense of thrill.
Gosling’s extreme sports media company is developing a collection of extreme sports-focused businesses and complexes in Dubai, including a 300-acre Extreme Park being built in Dubai Land, which is set be the world’s largest theme park, twice the size of Florida’s Walt Disney World.
Gosling’s park will incorporate a number of extreme sports.
"Whether it will be the biggest skate park in the world, or the largest man-made motor-cross riding area in world, if you build it they will come," says Gosling.
While Dubai does not currently attract many of the 165 million extreme sports participants worldwide, Gosling is confident the strong vision and follow-through of the Extreme Group and the Dubai government will boost Dubai as a hub in the growing sports and leisure market.
"I always liken it to Las Vegas," he says. "When that incredible visionary, Bugsy [Siegel], had the idea to build Las Vegas in the middle of the desert, everybody said it would never work, and it didn’t to start with. But once you build it, it becomes huge and I think a similar thing will happen and is happening in Dubai." Two new major stadiums, a 60,000-seat outdoor and 10,000-seat indoor stadium, are being planned for the Dubai Sports City, in addition to the 25,000-capacity cricket and 5,000-capactiy hockey stadiums already due for completion in 2009. The venues will allow Dubai to host international soccer, rugby and other athletic events, according to Dubai Sports City executives.
These developments and the growing focus on extreme sports have Dubai dabbling in an “extremely” promising market.
