There were some notable European operators touring the floor of the 2016 Dubai trade show this year.
Talking to them, it appears that their interest in the market had been aroused by the publicity, which we – and other publications – had given to the Middle East market in the past few years.
“We’re just here to take a look around,” said one noted operator of arcades on a multi-site chain of holiday homes and caravans.
The cagey response said it all. They wanted to take a look at the show, but more pointedly, wanted to tour some of those glamorous temples to amusement that the Middle East operators had constructed in the air-conditioned shopping malls of the region. In short: Would it work in Europe?
Generally, this type of entertainment model doesn’t work in Europe. The retail link with FECs has not taken off in the same way as it has in the Middle East. Why? Lots of reasons. The weather in Europe doesn’t drive folk indoors for air-conditioned retail, so there are fewer malls. Malls in any case are feeling the pinch which comes from online shopping – that hasn’t made an impact in the Middle East, yet. And the Middle East doesn’t delve into the shopper’s disposable income through gambling devices that are prevalent in Europe either in the real world or online.
And everything in the Middle East is so much more intense, so much more single-minded - the heat, the frequency of malls, the disposable income levels, the quality of the shops, the lack of other forms of leisure, even the length and importance of holidays. They all combine to create a shopping/leisure/entertainment culture that is far more accentuated than we find in Europe.
You will get holidays in Italy, but they may not be the same as the holidays in Spain, or the UK, or Germany, yet right across the Middle East you get Eid – and during Eid EVERYONE goes somewhere, and when there are few places to go except the mall and the FECs then you have that concentration. That’s what leads to a new and popular redemption machine making a return on iinvestment in a few days, or a major new ride paying off in a month.
And there are few other forms of competing entertainment: no gambling, certainly, and in some countries like the biggest market, Saudi, no cinemas. As one of my friends in the industry who is a supplier, said: “If their culture only permits shopping and FECs, then long may it live!”
The big operators in the Middle East have matured quickly over the past 20 years. They no longer learn from the West - they lead the West in terms of professionalism, expertise and a single-minded dedication to the quest for plaudits for being first with something new.
It is indeed refreshing to find a geographical sector of the amusement industry that is doing more than just OK. Long may it continue - and for those who went to Dubai “to take a look,” the formula won’t travel – at least not in its entirety.
