Dubai is one of the seven Emirates that constitute the UAE - United Arabic Emirates - located between the Persian Gulf and the Oman Gulf on the Arabic Peninsula. Dubai is neither the capital nor the most populated Emirate, but it is the most popular and well known. Its fame is due to the media coverage of the gigantic real estate and incredible constructions this Emirate has achieved. Dubai has become the symbol of man's excess, with the highest building in the world, Burj Khalifa, which is 828 meters high. Dubai claims to be the leading destination for luxury tourism, and a major hub for familial and business tourism .
To sustain that statement, the emirate counts a lot of gigantic constructions such as the most luxurious hotel in the world, Burj-Al-Arab, which is the only one with 7 stars ranking; Palm Islands which are 3 artificial islands in the shape of a palm tree and "The World", a huge artificial archipelago representing the world. So, what is the next step for Dubai to become the leading tourist destination in the world? The answer is called "Dubailand". Imagine a city in the middle of the desert, built from nothing and gathering within its walls all kinds of theme parks, hotels, resorts, leisure attractions, entertainment, shopping and sports. The whole Dubailand project is divided into six "worlds" as listed below :
- Attractions and Experience World: 145 million sq.ft. Themed experiences and attractions for the entire family with a cluster of parks such as anchor theme parks, Global village, themed water parks and more.
- Retail and Entertainment world: 45 million sq.ft. retail and entertainments concepts within a themed environment. Indoor and outdoor retail stores and entertainment with factory outlets, flea market, World Trade Park, Auction world, etc.
- Themed leisure and vacation world: 311 million sq.ft. With vacation villages, hotels and resorts all included in a themed environment
- Eco-Tourism world: 806 million sq.ft. An environment that is devoted to the conservation of the desert wildlife, including mini safari, sand dune hotels, desert camps. The entire park will offer a taste of the desert.
- Sports and Outdoor World: 206 million sq.ft of indoor and outdoor sports facilities and venues that will be able to host world class sport events like American football, soccer, tennis, golf, rugby, horse race and car racing circuits.
- Downtown: 5.66 million sq.ft - forming the resort city's downtown, business and administrative district. The zone will reflect the technology oriented vision of Dubailand and will include shopping areas like the Mall of Arabia, the largest mall in the world. Downtown will also include large streets and boulevards with theaters, restaurants, art galleries, squares, cafés, gardens and so on.
[...] In the case of Dubailand both polychromic and monochromic cultures have to work together, and this can pose a problem towards meeting deadlines. As Perdier says, for Middle-East people “tomorrow means not today, maybe tomorrow or maybe in 2 weeks” whereas for occidentals “tomorrow means tomorrow 8am sharp”. So it's important to create the same notion of time between all teams from different cultures. For this, Perdier created the credo, meaning the deadline is December and he printed it on t-shirts so everyone working at Dubailand remembers that there is a deadline to meet. [...]
[...] Conclusion Through this analysis of the Dubailand case, we have seen how big and how complex the project is. The amounts of money invested are huge and the stakes are high. Many different investors are part of the project and this makes it more difficult to handle for the SVP of Leisure and Entertainment at Tatweer, Christian Perdier. He came up with a strategy that is brand new for a tourism project, but we have to hope that the operators will deliver their parks and resorts on time because no delays are accepted in the tourism industry. [...]
[...] Communication between partners is important to make them feel that they are part of a big project that is not only investing in land; investors, stakeholders, operators must have the same goal and same in mind”. In Perdier's shoes, I will gather the important partners and collaborators to the table in Dubailand every two months for example, to be part of a “Status and Coordination Meeting” to keep everyone up to date and remind them of deadlines and the stakes; and move forward in the project. [...]
[...] Recommendations If I were in Christian Perdier's shoes, I would have proceeded as follows: - Defining the purpose of a project like this. - Gathering collaborators with experience and building a team - Establish a precise and developed schedule for every phase of the project. - Create a corporate identity that will unite all investors, collaborators, workers and stakeholders, to make them feel like they are part of something big. Involve people not only physically but with their hearts and minds. [...]
[...] To fulfill the analysis of the Dubailand case we have to cover the following questions: - What should be the content of the strategy? What would you do if you were in Christian Perdier's shoes? What would you propose to the Chairman in five days? - What key priorities would you set for you and your team to get speed of delivery? - What would you do with this strategy? How would you share it? And with whom? - What kind of team would you put together and how would you build it? [...]
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