Run or draw.

That was a decision Rick Hill had to make as an undergraduate at the University of Kentucky nearly 40 years ago. A native of Bardstown, he wanted to be an architect but when he signed up for classes and found that mandatory studio times conflicted with running, he picked running.

“I made a career decision right there,” he recalled.

Maybe not so much.

Despite a long career in marketing shopping centers from his base in Charlotte, N.C., and a lifelong interest in running, Hill never lost his urge to design. He just reinvented himself as a real estate strategist and designer.

Recent examples of his mind behind proposed and completed design work in Louisville include the highly touted revitalization by Underhill Associates of Westport Village that h as been called an “against all odds” success. The former grim and decaying Camelot Shopping Center at Westport Rd. and Lyndon Lane won a recent landmark award from the Louisville Historical League. “The main thing was to remove the strip mall look, which was done with creating new traffic patterns and creating a visual axis for the place. It works with small business rather than large ones and it thrives with inexpensive cafés,” Hill said.

Another is an ambitious nearly block-sized make-over for antiques dealer and property owner Joe Ley on East Market St. that could be a major piece of the evolving area. East Market with help from Ley’s anchoring business and a slew of grass roots art galleries, bistros and shops is headed into a new gear with other private owner plans to turn the former campus of Wayside Christian Mission into a downtown farmers’ market and community space.

“What I like about it is that is there’s so much there,” said Hill. “My plan (for Joe Ley properties) is to meet with what is already there and to add to it. This is what I call an in-between area. It needs to be redeveloped from inside out, creating cut-throughs for entire blocks and a sense of meeting places inside the block – a hand-made, home-made locality with all the things that can only be in Louisville, Ky.”

A third project has been the renovation and restoration of Hill’s own new headquarters in the lofty rooms of the former laundry house for the Presbyterian children’s home, Bellwood, in Anchorage.

“A real love is to take an old building and restore it back to its original state,” he said. “I made the commitment to stay true (at Bellwood).” That included copper guttering, a slate roof, new hardwood floors, cleaning the brick. “It was fairly non-economic,” Hill noted.

He is creating his own village, a series of three buildings, including one new one with a quadrangle for public gardens. The group will eventually house his company and other companies. He plans to open a small office in Shanghai and expand staff from three with contract work hired out to a full office with “land planners, an architect with illustration skills, qualified writers, economists and market researchers. “

“I want them to free me up from some of the tedium. . . I want to operate more on the creative side.”

Hill said in his life time he has created plans for 117 real estate developments, created the vision for dozens of projects and directed leasing for more than 10 million square feet.

He helped bring the first IKEA store to the United States in 1985; did the first redevelopment of a regional mall into an off-price center; and created retail planning for Sears Tower in Chicago, so that visitors did more than go up to top and back. The study he produced on how to increase revenue from visitors produced a $2 million stream of income.

He created the sponsor villages, now a park in Atlanta, for the 1996 Olympic Games and led redevelopment planning for the recent redevelopment of Gulfstream Park in Miami from racetrack to up-scale shopping area.

It started with his first “real” job out of college. Hill graduated from UK in 1974 with a degree in general studies, having selected studio art, art history and marketing as his foci.

“The Mall St. Matthews was looking for a marketing advertising specialist. I got the job,” he said. After two years, The Rouse Company that owned The Mall and many other shopping malls, sent him to Tampa, then Philadelphia, then Charlotte, N. C. The Wall Street Journal picked up on his redevelopment of a mall into an off-price center and predicted it was the future. “My phone started ringing off the hook,” Hill recalled. “That was the timing at (age) 29 for me to leave. . . I was young and dumb at that time.”

“I had no money. I began to look for foreclosed shopping centers and would offer to help fix their problems.” In 1990, he took a three week executive program at Stanford University. “I wrote down on a ledger pad all the interesting things I wanted to do. . . I wanted to work in national parks. . . I wanted to work in Africa. . . I wanted to work with the Olympic Games. . . I decided I didn’t want to spend my life taking care of shopping centers and their problems.”

He did strategic planning for national parks, he worked with the Atlanta Olympics, he reclaimed his running and helped start the Nike cross country running series and he made five trips to Ethiopia to work with homeless children and children with AIDS.

“I wanted to change the course of what I was doing,” Hill recalled. “I sold my company headquarters (Hill Partners) in Charlotte, N. C. in early 2001 and had a plan. I was going to semi-retire, spend more time in East Africa and work on this event I had created for Nike. This was to be the rest of my life. Then 9/11 took a lot out of me.”

He got to reading “The City of Collective Memory: Its Historical Imagery and Architectural Entertainments” by urban historian M. Christine Boyer, whose mantra is that the past is prey to invention.

“It’s my Bible” said Hill. “I have to read it a sentence at a time.” But he gets it, said Hill. If the new looks old, it creates a crisis of identity. That is why, he said, “I’m not into new urbanism. I’m into urbanism.”

“I have a love hate relationship with architects. . . I’m anti-city government” in terms of development,” Hill said. He thinks the marketplace is what determines success. As for the proposed controversial sweetheart deal with Cordish Companies for a City Center, he said, “I think it the wrong project in the wrong location at the wrong time. In 10 years, it won’t happen.”

Further, he volunteered, the amount of money being spent on the sports arena at the river front would better be spent $1million at a time in neighborhoods for community design and strategic thinking. “What if you spent $1 million on 30 blocks, or street corners?”

“What makes thing fly,” Hill said, “is when you have a diversity of places and a diversity of people, (when) it’s a 24 hours a day seven days a week action. It’s a living, breathing village. People know each other.”

And that is why his new company formed in 2001 is called Village Solutions.

Today, his projects include creative planning for three projects in India, including a tiger habitat and eco tourism center; a 3,000 acre agriculture village with a hospitality center and a hotel; and a “Bollywood,” a three to four screen cinema complex in Bombay. He is a consultant for the tourist destination of Halong Bay in Vietnam; for an Indo-China gateway to the Himalayas and Tibet for hikers; and the possible development of waterfront sand flats in Redwood Cal.

“I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out where the money is on this globe,” said Hill. “My business is morphing more into what I call marketplace-crafting.” It engages the skills of creative planning and design that drew him to architecture in the first place.

“I try to take projects that stretch me, that teach me, that are fun,” said Hill, “I try to get out those that are not or, not get into them in the first place.”

A Legoland Discovery Centre – a small indoor attraction based on the tiny plastic brick children’s toys from Denmark – is being planned for metro Atlanta, a broker said Friday.

The company that will develop it – Merlin Entertainment Group of the United Kingdom – may also seek to bring its wax museum brand — Madame Tussauds — to Atlanta, said Howard Samuels, the company’s national broker with Samuels & Co. in Los Angeles.

The location for the Legoland attraction – which would charge admission of $15 for kids and $19 for adults – is still in negotiations, Samuels said. The attraction would include an Atlanta skyline made of Legos.

Sites being considered are Atlantic Station near Midtown, North Point Mall in Alpharetta, Buckhead and downtown Atlanta, he said, as well as other sites that “meet our criteria.”

Criteria include being near other “family-oriented co-tenants” with good dining nearby. Samuels said he is in negotiations, but he wouldn’t say whether a letter of intent has been signed.

The indoor attraction would be about 35,000 square feet – the size of the recently closed ESPN Zone restaurant in Buckhead.

It would include several rides, a large play area, a café and a gift shop, and be available for private parties.

There is only one U.S. location of Legoland Discovery Centre, which is in Schaumburg, a Chicago suburb. A Legoland amusement park is in Carlsbad, Calif., near San Diego.

Mike Pastor, the general manager of the Schaumburg location, said the average age for visitors is about 7 years old, but the attraction brings in kids ages 3 to 12.

The Chicago outpost opened in July 2008. “We’ve met our budget goal so far and exceeded what we expected,” he said.

Samuels said these attractions are built with the expectation they could get 400,000 to 600,000 visitors annually. The company does not disclose development costs.

Merlin Entertainment operates about 60 attractions in 13 countries. A London spokeswoman wouldn’t confirm details about Atlanta, but she did say Merlin is looking to add U.S. locations for several of its brands, including Sea Life.

In general, Merlin seeks economic development incentives to help offset the capital costs for the attractions, Samuels said. But without a lease in hand, it has yet to pursue public incentive funds, he added.

The Legoland attraction is set to open in the spring of 2011, he added.

A Legoland and/or Madame Tussauds would add more feathers to Atlanta’s hat as a tourism destination in the Southeast.

A pirate museum and college football hall of fame were recently announced as well.

William Pate, president of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, said it would be nice to have another place for young kids, along with the Imagine It Children’s Museum of Atlanta and the Georgia Aquarium.

“It really fits in to our diversified portfolio of tourist offerings,” he said, referring to the varied tourism sites now downtown, plus the ones that are coming, such as the National Health Museum.

He believes a Legoland indoor park, because of its uniqueness, would also be another magnet for tourists who drive from Birmingham, Nashville and Knoxville, for example.

Calcutta has the potential to house 10 amusement parks, but has only two such crowd-pullers — Nicco Park and Aquatica. While South India boasts of 30-35 fun parks, the eastern region has just seven of the 120 in the country.

This was the talking point at a meet organised by the Indian Association of Amusement Parks and Industries on Saturday in Nicco Park.

“The process (of setting up amusement parks) was speeded up in the south because of government support,” said N.D. Rana, the president of the association, formed 13 years ago to promote the industry. 

“South India gained the tourists Kashmir lost and states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala pulled out all stops to woo amusement park promoters,” Rana added.

The association members were, however, upbeat about the industry’s prospects in the east. “You have a good population mix and beautiful space available,” said Rana. But the government has to lease out land to park promoters at affordable rates, he added.

C.L. Chamaria, the chairman of the association in the east pointed to the potential in other cities in the region. “Places like Agartala and Siliguri are coming up,” he said.

On Saturday, the association announced its 10th Amusement Expo 2010. The business-to-business event aimed at promoting trade and networking will be held from March 18 to 20 in Mumbai. “A consultant from Disney will speak on safety measures at the expo,” said a member of the association.

The amusement park industry clocks a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore in India and is growing at 10-15 per cent annually. It generates 200 to 300 jobs per park, the member added.

A $2 billion resort plan for Cairns including a theme park, film studio, water park and hotels, has been unveiled this afternoon.

Proponent Tropical Resort Developments Pty Ltd said building on the Edmonton development could start as early as 2011, and would take 10 years to complete.

The major project still needs approval from the State Government.

The new project plans come as Cairns Regional Council prepares to vote on a controversial proposal for a waterslide theme park at Smithfield.

Tomorrow’s council vote comes after council planners recommended a proposed $35 million water park Adventure Waters be rejected.

A proposal to build a 254-room, Lego-themed hotel at the Legoland California amusement park won the support it needed Tuesday from the Carlsbad City Council.

The state’s Coastal Commission also is expected to soon sign off on the plans, but when construction will begin is uncertain, project backers said, adding that it depends on national economic conditions.

“We need to see signs of recovery first,” Legoland general manager Peter Ronchetti told the City Council.

Once the park’s owners —- Merlin Entertainments —- agree to begin the job, it will take about 18 months of work before the proposed hotel can open its doors to paying customers, Ronchetti said.

Tucked out of sight between Cannon Road to the north and Palomar Airport Road to the south, the Legoland California park opened in 1999 and added a separate aquarium attraction last year. The park’s rides and other attractions are inspired by creations made from the plastic Lego building blocks.

The proposed hotel will include a Lego clock tower and brightly colored Lego decorations around its exterior. Plans call for the serpentine-shaped hotel, which will wrap around a pool area, to be built in two phases, with the first phase consisting of 152 rooms. The hotel is proposed to go on what’s now the RV parking lot next to the ticket counters.

The RV lot is seldom used, so the loss of its parking spaces isn’t considered a big concern, city senior planner Van Lynch told the council.

In fact, Legoland has so much excess parking space that it leases part of its lower lots to car dealerships for new-car storage.

Council members said they were eager for the place to open. Councilwoman Ann Kulchin noted that city leaders have expected a Lego-themed hotel ever since the park opened a decade ago.

Others said they loved the room designs, particularly the luxury ones with pirate and castle themes.

“I think this is obviously a very unique hotel,” Councilman Mark Packard said.

Ronchetti said that even the basic rooms will carry a Lego look, with special carpeting that has the texture of the bumpy top of Lego blocks. The wall paper will feature building plans for Lego objects, he added.

A $12 million Legoland Discovery Centre, an attraction centered on the popular children’s building blocks, will be coming to Grapevine Mills mall, the city said Tuesday.

The only other U.S. Legoland Discovery Centre opened last year outside Chicago. Legoland Discovery Centre and the Legoland theme park in California are developments of U.K.-based Merlin Entertainment Group, reportedly the world’s second-biggest operator of visitor attractions.

The Grapevine City Council and the board of the Tax Increment Financing District No. 1, which was established several years ago for the mall, approved a two-phase, $1 million incentive package for the project. Merlin Entertainment will receive $500,000 when it completes the facility and $500,000 when it completes an accompanying 10,000-square-foot miniature golf facility made from Legos.

Construction should begin in June, with an anticipated opening in March 2011, the company said. The facility will occupy 40,000 square feet currently being used by Woodward Skatepark, which is across from the AMC Theatres. The golf facility will go in the outdoor plaza between the theater and the mall.

Simon Property Group owns the mall. Its local business representative could not be reached for comment.

Legoland Discovery Centres are geared to kids ages 3-12. Visitors often spend between two and three hours walking through the center and taking part in activities. Kids learn how Legos are built before venturing on to build with the blocks, see displays and ride Lego rides. There’s a cafe and rooms for birthday parties. Admission is $15 for children and $19 for adults. Annual passes are $40.

Merlin Entertainment said it chose Grapevine because the city is considered a “popular destination for family visitors.”

Glenn Earlam, a managing director with Merlin, said in a statement that “the inclusion of a quality leisure attraction like the Legoland Discovery Centre will . . . deliver significant incremental business to both the mall, to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and greater region as a whole.”

Grapevine Mayor William Tate said the project “will become one of the most unique and best family attractions in Texas.” City officials estimated that it could draw more than 300,000 visitors a year.

Legos, colorful snap-together plastic building blocks, are made by Lego Group, a private Danish firm.

The first Discovery Centre opened in Berlin in 2007. There is one in Germany, and a location is expected to open next year in Manchester, England, according to the company’s Web site. Atlanta might also add a location, according to media reports.

Merlin operates 59 attractions, six hotels and two holiday villages in 13 countries, including Madame Tussauds in New York, Washington, Las Vegas and Hollywood, Calif.

A Lego Education Center in Southlake, a venture of Lego and Pitsco Inc, is not part of Merlin.

It offers classes and educational activities geared to kids 3-12 using Legos to teach math, science, engineering, technology and art.

The Walt Disney Company, with the help of Steven P. Jobs and his retailing team at Apple, intends to drastically overhaul its approach to the shopping mall.

At a time when many retailers are still cutting back or approaching strategic shifts with extreme caution, Disney is going the other way, getting more aggressive and putting into motion an expensive and ambitious floor-to-ceiling reboot of its 340 stores in the United States and Europe — as well as opening new ones, including a potential flagship in Times Square.

Disney Stores, which the media giant is considering rebranding Imagination Park, will become more akin to cozy entertainment hubs. The chain’s traditional approach of displaying row after row of toys and apparel geared to Disney franchises will be given a high-tech makeover and incorporated into a new array of recreational activities. The goal is to make children clamor to visit the stores and stay longer, perhaps bolstering sales as a result. Over the next five years, analysts estimate that Disney will spend about $1 million a store to redecorate, reorganize and install interactive technology.

“The world does not need another place to sell Disney merchandise — this only works if it’s an experience,” said Jim Fielding, president of Disney Stores Worldwide. The company plans to unveil the new look in May in Southern California, Long Island and Madrid, and is close to signing a lease for that Times Square flagship.

Theaters will allow children to watch film clips of their own selection, participate in karaoke contests or chat live with Disney Channel stars via satellite. Computer chips embedded in packaging will activate hidden features. Walk by a “magic mirror” while holding a Princess tiara, for instance, and Cinderella might appear and say something to you.

It’s your birthday? With the push of a button, eight 13-foot-tall Lucite trees will crackle with video-projected fireworks and sound. There will be a scent component; if a clip from Disney’s coming “A Christmas Carol” is playing in the theater, the whole store might suddenly be made to smell like a Christmas tree.

The makeover happened only after much internal debate at the company. Indeed, some Disney board members fretted that the concept was so lavish that parents would try to use the stores as day care centers. Others worried that people would come for the entertainment but not buy anything.

“It’s time to take risks,” Mr. Fielding said he told them. “When consumers are ready to spend again, we will be ready.”

The involvement of Mr. Jobs, the Apple chief executive who joined the Disney board with the 2006 acquisition of Pixar, is particularly notable. For the first time, Mr. Jobs’s fingerprints can be seen on Disney strategy, in the same way that he influenced the look and feel of Apple’s own immensely popular retail chain. While Mr. Jobs did not personally toil on the Imagination Park concept, he pushed Disney to move far past a refurbishment.

“Dream bigger — that was Steve’s message,” said Andy Mooney, chairman of Disney Consumer Products.

Mr. Jobs provided access to proprietary information about the development and operation of Apple’s highly successful stores, and Disney executives visited Apple’s research operation in Cupertino, Calif. Mr. Jobs, who declined to comment, also insisted that Disney build a prototype store to work out kinks, a costly endeavor that most retailers skip.

The company followed his advice, working for the last year on a full-scale, fully stocked store inside an unmarked warehouse in Glendale, Calif. The prototype was crucial to shaping an overall philosophy, Mr. Fielding said, noting that he discovered the shops needed more “Pixar-esque winks and nods.” To that end, one sales area is now labeled “WWTD: What Would Tinker Bell Do?”

Disney will adopt Apple touches like mobile checkout (employees will carry miniature receipt printers in their aprons) and the emphasis on community (Disney’s theater idea is an extension of Apple’s lecture spaces). The focus on interactivity — parents will be able to book a Disney Cruise on touch-screen kiosks while their children play — reflects an Apple hallmark. Employees can use iPhones to control those high-tech trees.

Disney is a merchandising titan whose licensed consumer products generated $30 billion in global sales last year, up from $12 billion when Mr. Mooney joined the company a decade ago. But Apple is king of the mall. Its fleet of stores generated sales of about $4,700 a square foot in 2008, by far the highest for any retail chain, said Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Company. In comparison, Best Buy’s sales are about $1,000 a square foot.

The Disney board approved the Imagination Park concept on Oct. 1 after touring the prototype and receiving hand-made books from Mr. Fielding that pitched the concept as “the best 30 minutes of a child’s day.” Now Disney is bringing in landlords, trying to pit them against one another to secure top-tier locations and favorable leases.

“We will essentially be the only toy retailer left at the mall because everybody else has evaporated,” Mr. Mooney said. Mr. Fielding added, “Every mall in America is desperate for newness and freshness.”

The Disney Store chain, introduced in 1987, was initially so successful that the company overexpanded to more than 600 locations. Buffalo alone had five. But consumers overdosed on the animated-character merchandise and by 2002 the chain was losing about $100 million a year.

Judging the upkeep too burdensome and focusing on the safer licensing business, Disney sold the chain to Children’s Place Retail Stores in 2004.

But Children’s Place failed to meet contractual renovation obligations and consumers complained of poor service, Mr. Fielding said. The vaunted Disney brand was in peril. “Let’s face facts,” he said, “some of those stores looked like a dog’s breakfast.”

In March 2008, Disney bought back part of the chain on undisclosed terms and the remaining stores, about 100 of them, were closed. A spokeswoman for Children’s Place declined to comment.

Dressing up a toy store with entertainment is hardly new. F.A.O. Schwarz has its famous floor piano, Toys “R” Us operates a Ferris wheel inside its Times Square outpost and American Girl jazzes up its retail outlets with theaters and doll hair salons. But the emphasis on programming — via the theaters, Disney is essentially creating a mall-based television channel — and the degree to which the media giant is pouring on the razzle-dazzle in every store is unusual.

The nation’s largest mall operator, Simon Property Group, however, said Disney might be overly optimistic about how far landlords will bend. “No one comes in here and dictates terms,” said Bruce Tobin, a Simon executive vice president.

That said, however, Mr. Tobin had pinwheels in his eyes after touring the prototype. “It’s truly spectacular — beyond our imagination,” he said. “These are going to be true destinations.”

A group of five companies, including Compagnie des Alpes, will invest DH2.3 billion (US$300 million) to redevelop the park. Plans for the 70-hectare (173-acre) site include an amusement park, zoo, hotel, commercial park and residences. As part of the project, the developers must agree to set aside land for an archaeological museum and preserve excavated areas.

The redevelopment will be built on 24 hectares (59 acres), with the remaining 114 acres likely going towards the archeological museum and excavation sites. The excavation sites and archeological museum are intended to be working archeological sites simultaneously servings as a sort of open-air museum for visitors.

The Limited’s SoHo pop-up shop, doing brisk business, will stick around through the holidays.

More than just a limited engagement, trendy apparel retailer The Limited is extending its four-day pop-up shop in SoHo through the end of December, the company said Thursday.

Last week, Limited opened a temporary, store at 134 Spring St., between Wooster and Greene streets, after a decade-long absence from the New York market. But executives of the Columbus, Ohio-based firm were “pleasantly surprised, as it performed at the same level as one of their top-tier stores,” according to a spokeswoman. Sales, which were not disclosed, were high enough to persuade the company to extend the 3,400-square-foot shop through Dec. 28. It’s a sign, retail brokers say, that the retailer might be closer to taking a permanent location here.

“With all the availabilities and low rents and obvious short-term opportunities, companies are starting to realize the benefit of locking in low rents for long-term leases,” said Peter Levitan, a broker at Sierra Realty, which handles a lot of business in the downtown area. Asking rents on Spring Street have fallen about 25% since the peak of the market two years ago to near $300 a square foot, but are still not as low as the near $160-per-square-foot rents tenants can find on the less-trafficked West Broadway, brokers say.

These days, landlords are willing to accept short-term tenants like Limited, with the hopes of finding a longer lasting relationship around the corner.

“The structure of some deals now is temporary with the right to make it permanent,” said Jason Pruger of Newmark Knight Frank Retail. “It gives the tenant the opportunity to see if the marketplace works for them, while the landlord can collect rent and potentially have something in the long-term.”

A Limited spokeswoman said that the company loves the energy and fashion relevance of SoHo but “would consider multiple neighborhoods before making a final decision” about a potential Manhattan location. In SoHo, the retailer would join tenants offering a wide variety of price ranges, from John Varvatos’s luxury to American Apparel’s basics.

“The Limited has an ideal price point for today’s price-conscious shopper,” said Mr. Levitan, adding that the trial period will help the company determine if SoHo is the right choice.

After its heyday in the ’80s, when sales volume reportedly totaled more than $1 billion, Limited’s popularity has suffered. The chain now does near $400 million in annual sales. Limited Brands Inc., which owns such chains as Express, Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret, sold a controlling stake of its namesake Limited brand to affiliates of Sun Capital Partners Inc. two years ago.

Under new ownership, Limited is seeking to revamp its image. It hopes to eventually expand its store count, with most new stores coming in at about 4,000 square feet instead of the usual 7,000 square feet. The Spring Street pop-up includes re-launched labels Forenza and Outback Red.

With events such as The Formula One Grand Prix on the docket, Abu Dhabi is rapidly emerging as a world-class tourism destination and is threatening to overtake Dubai as the top tourism hot spot in the UAE.

The capital of the UAE has long taken a back seat to Dubai on the tourist map, preferring to take a more low-key approach and focusing on business tourism rather than the leisure market.

However, in the wake of the global financial crisis the two emirates have seen the fortunes of their tourism industries go in opposite directions.

Dubai’s high-flying hotel sector, like much of the rest of the world, witnessed declines in occupancy and revenues throughout the downturn, while Abu Dhabi has risen to new heights.

In the first half of 2009, average daily room rates in Dubai fell 24% while rates in Abu Dhabi rose 5% from the same period the year before, said a report by Hogg Robinson. And with room rates averaging $275 a night in the first half of the year, Abu Dhabi replaced Dubai as the most expensive major destination in the world, according to Hotels.com’s hotel price index.

Detailed strategy

Abu Dhabi’s rise as a tourist destination is the by-product of a carefully thought-out strategy by the government that involves billions of dollars of investment in infrastructure, marketing, and tourism developments.

In the immediate future, the emirate is expecting to receive a large influx of visitors for two high-profile events: the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – the UAE’s first-ever Formula One race – which will take place in the first week of November on Yas Island, and the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2009, which will be held the following month.

In addition to attracting race fans, the F1 event will also serve as a showcase for the $36bn island development, whose offerings when completed will include high-end resorts, golf courses, and a Ferrari theme park.

Seven new hotels will open this month on the island in time for the race, including the 500-room Yas Hotel from real estate developer Aldar, two Rotana-managed properties, two IHG hotels, a Radisson Blu by Rezidor, and the UAE’s first Park Inn.

Diversified growth

In addition to hosting the upcoming sporting events, the capital is also hoping to gain a reputation as a cultural hub with the development of Saadiyat Island, which will be home to the Guggenheim and Louvre museums.

The emirate’s tourism efforts are being aided by the rapid growth of Abu Dhabi International Airport, which is now directly linked with 69 destinations and served by 32 airlines. Passenger traffic at the airport has grown significantly over the past five years, almost doubling from five million a year to nine million.

Abu Dhabi is on target to receive 1.5 million hotel guests in 2009, which would be on par with last year’s performance, Ahmed Hussein, Deputy Director General, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) told AMEInfo.com. ‘Next year we are looking for a 10% increase with a 15% increase slated each for 2011 and 2012, so that by the end of 2012 we will reach our goal of receiving 2.3 million hotel guests,’ he noted.

To help meet these ambitious targets, approximately 10,000 rooms are under construction in the emirate to be delivered in the remainder of this year and through 2010, with a further 7,000 to come on line in 2011. Overall, the emirate hopes to have 24,000 available rooms by 2012.

Infrastructure milestone

Last week Abu Dhabi achieved a milestone in its infrastructure with the opening of a bridge that links Saadiyat Island with the city for the first time. The city also opened a 27km expressway which stretches from Port Zayed on the Abu Dhabi mainland to the Shahama District, passing through Saadiyat and Yas islands.

Abu Dhabi also recently launched a new hotel rating system aimed at raising hospitality standards in the emirate and providing accurate and consistent information for tourists. All hotels and hotel apartments in the emirate will have to display their rating by the end of October.

Two years in the making, the rating system will also give tour operators ‘increasing confidence in selling the destination and being able to recommend suitable accommodation to their clients’, Hussein said. ‘Everyone will now know what to expect from hotels with specific star ratings – it gives us added product integrity.’

Oversupply risk

Currently Abu Dhabi is very much undersupplied, hence the steep rise in price of its hotel rooms, said John Podaras, associate director at TRI Hospitality Consulting. ‘Whereas a year ago people doing business in Dubai were staying in Abu Dhabi where hotels were cheaper, now the reverse is true,’ he said.

With so much supply coming on board, there is a risk that the emirate will be temporarily oversupplied, but since most of these projects are geared around major government initiatives, they should generate their own demand, he noted.

‘Their master plans maps out a strategy for the future that is quite comprehensive and is very much vested in the development of Abu Dhabi as a capital city, with these various other developments all working with each other to provide a demand synergy which is not only targeting tourism but also the complete industrial and social framework of Abu Dhabi,’ Podaras said.

Hotel room supply is rising much more rapidly in Dubai, where inventory is expected to reach 54,000 in 2010, up 40% from 2008. With so much being invested in the tourism industries in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, is it realistic to expect that both emirates, which are just one hour’s drive apart, can sustain this growth?

Podaras believes the answer is yes. ‘Dubai and Abu Dhabi co-exist well because Dubai has chosen a different path. They are more focused on foreign investment and bringing private developers in to develop what it is going to actually be. And they are looking at a bigger market.’

‘Abu Dhabi is looking at a much tighter integration between each of the districts they are developing across the whole of the emirate. It is a different strategy and the positioning is different, so they should complement each other very well,’ he said.