The United Arab Emirates Project Analysis - Case Study Example

UAE Project Analysis Student’s Name Institution Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………. 3 Country General Presentation…………………………………………………………..3 Current Issues Related to Hotels/ Hospitality Industry………………………………...6 Future and Forecasts……………………………………………………………………8 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………8 References……………………………………………………………………………….9 UAE Project Analysis Introduction The United Arab Emirates is a littleArab nation located in the Arabian Peninsula within the Middle East section. The country is a very fast growing economy and is highly dependent on oil reserves and natural gas for exportrevenues. It is predominantly Muslim, with the official language being Arabic. The country is composed of seven distinctive emirates, which are; Sharjah, Umm al-Quwain, Abhu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Dubai and Ras al-Khaimah. The president to the entire United Arab Emirates federation is Khalifa bin Zayed. 1. Country General Presentation The United Arab Emirates is situated on the western end of the ArabianPeninsula, and border two major gulfs within the Middle East region, the entire Persian Gulf and the gulf of Oman.The United Arab Emirates is also in close proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, which is a major world getaway for most of the global crude oil supply.The United Arab Emirates has a 650 km stretch of coast and the entire country occupies a landmass of 83, 600 km2 and as of 2013, the population of the entire federation is estimated at around 9.2 million people.The emirate and city of Dubai has the largest population of people living in the United Arab Emirates, with over 2 million individuals living there alone. The emirate of Abhu Dhabi has an approximate population of about 1.9 million individuals and the emirate of Sharjah about 1.3 million people. The rest of the emirates share the other batch of theUnited Arab Emirates’ population. Most of United Arab Emirates’ population is composed of mainly expatriates from other countries of the world, with only approximately 13-15% being the nationals of the federation.The country experiences a climate of hot summers and warm winters for the better part of the year. Most of the federation is arid or semi-arid. The main plant life that grows in the United Arab Emiratesincludes palm trees, eucalyptus and acacia trees among others (Mobile reference, 2010). In terms of political organization, the United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven different political enclaves, known as emirates. Each of the seven enclaves is ruled by an emir, and all the seven emirs of the United Arab Emiratesform a governing council known as the Federal Supreme Council. Each emirate provides a particular percentage of their revenues to the general budget of the United Arab Emirates federation. It should be noted that both the president and PM of the United Arab Emirates are usually elected by the members of the Federal Supreme Council, which oversees the governing of all the emirates forming the United Arab Emirates. The United Arab Emirates has a semblance of a democratic government with separation of powers, as there is a Federal National Council, which consists of 50% elected leaders and acts as the parliament of the federation. It is governed by a constitution, and there is a court system based on Islamic Sharia Law and civil law too. United Arab Emirates’ culture is generally modeled alongside the predominant Arabic culture prevailing both within the Arabian Peninsula and the entire Middle East. Also, its culture is highly modeled along the Islamic religion, which is the predominant religion in the entire Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula(Mobile reference, 2010). The national language spoken by Emirati nationals is Arabic, same as other Arabic countries in the region. Due to the high population of expatriates in the federation, other major international languages such as English are also widely spoken, as almost 85% of the federation’s population is made up of expatriates. Both the male and female genders in the United Arab Emirates like wearing long woven tunics that cover most of the body. The main foods eaten by most Emirati nationals are fish, meat and rice. They also love folk type of music, related to Bedouin music. The UAE’s largest religion base, which also happens to be the official state religion of the federation, is the Islamic religion.Muslims-Sunnis are approximately 75% of the country’s population, with 9% being Christians and the other religions sharing the remainder of the Federation’s population (Mobile reference, 2010). The United Arab Emirates’ economy is considered to be stronger with in the Middle East region, with the federation having the 2nd largest economy after Saudi Arabia. The federation’s economy is heavily dependent on crude oil and natural gas exports, as these two earn the federation a good deal of foreign exchange. As of 5 years ago, these two exports accounted for 80% of the federation’s export revenues. In recent years however, the government of the United Arab Emirates has undertaken steps to diversify its economy with other sectors such as tourism and the construction industry. The United Arab Emirates ‘ economy is also heavily dependent on foreign labor, with workers in the tourism and construction sector coming from all continents, especially the third world countries(Mobile reference, 2010). The tourism and hospitality sector of the United Arab Emirates’ economy has been growing steadily over the last decade, as a way of diversifying the economy of the federation and reducing the over dependency on oil and natural gas revenues. Due to a rising tourism and hospitality industry, the Emirati government has been spending billions of dollars in developing infrastructure such as airports, railnetworks, subway networks and stations and roads too. The Dubai international airport was ranked as the busiest international airport in the world in 2013. There are many major water ports that have been developed too by the government to facilitate easier imports and exports through the country’s coastline. Some of the major tourist attraction centers in the United Arab Emiratesinclude the Burj Khalifah sky scraper – the world’s tallest building, the Dubai Mall, the Dubai Creek, the Dubai Museum, DubaiWaterfront, Falcon city of Wonders and the Dubai World Trade Center. World class hospitality facilities such as the Palm Jumeirah and the Jumeirah beach hotel provide tourists and business men with ample first class accommodation. As such, the tourism and hospitality industry is highly important to the United Arab Emirates’ economy at present (Mobile reference, 2010). 2. Current Issues Related to Hotels/ Hospitality Industry Thereare various current issues influencing the hotels and hospitality industry in the United Arab Emirates. Most of the destinations that are heavily served by this essential industry include the emirate of Abu Dhabi and the emirate of Dubai. These main destinations have a number of accommodation facilities to sufficiently cater for the tourists, business people and other visitors entering into the United Arab Emirates. The marketing positioning of many business organizations andcompanies in the United Arab Emirate, including of hotels and accommodation providers in the federation’s tourism and hospitality industry is highly influenced by the different destinations. The various destinations frequented by tourists, visitors and even business people coming to the United Arab Emiratesare performing very well, helping the federation to diversify away from dependence on oil and natural gas reserves. A marked increase in revenue has been observed by key different tourist destinations such as the Palm Jumeirah, the Jumeirah beach hotel, the Dubai Creek among others (Mobile reference, 2010). The importance of these tourist destinations to the general economic performance of the federation cannot be understated, sincethe United Arab Emirates is receiving a substantial amount of foreign revenue from them.However, there are some challengesand problems facing these tourist destinations, one of them being that they are very expensive and as a result, sometourists and visitors shy away from them. The global economic crisis, coupled with the persistent Eurozone crisis has also affected the number of tourists arriving in different tourist destinations in the United Arab Emirates, since most of the touristsvisiting the federation come from Europe and America. Finally, the pay and working conditions of the workers employed in the different tourist destinations as well as the hotels and accommodation facilities is very low and exploitative, posing a challenge to the tourism and hospitality industry(Mobile reference, 2010).. There are different tourist segments within the tourism and hospitality industry of the United Arab Emirates. These various segments contribute differently to the foreign revenue earned by the federation. These segments include Sports tourism, Cruise tourism, Spa tourism, Healthcare tourism and Eco tourism among other emerging segments.The 2013 statistics reveal that Dubai, one of the emirates of the federation received approximately 10.6 million tourists. There are many challenges and problems facing the aforementioned tourism segments like the global economic crisis and recession, as well as fluctuating monetary exchange systems. The end of 2013 had a forecast of over 32, 000 hotel rooms, with 17, 000 rooms being constructed during that year. There are over 150 major hotels in the United Arab Emirates, with over 70 being 5-stars, 50 4-stars and 30 3-stars, and the world leading 7-star hotel, the Burj Al Arab.The performances of hotels in the industry are very encouraging, with over 10 million tourists being accommodated. The occupancy rates of the hotels for December 2013 stood at around 80%, which is quite remarkable. The Revenue per available room figures reached over $160 million (Mobile reference, 2010). References Mobile Reference (2010). Travel Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Illustrated Guide, Phrasebook and Maps. Boston: Mobile Reference. Read More

The national language spoken by Emirati nationals is Arabic, same as other Arabic countries in the region. Due to the high population of expatriates in the federation, other major international languages such as English are also widely spoken, as almost 85% of the federation’s population is made up of expatriates. Both the male and female genders in the United Arab Emirates like wearing long woven tunics that cover most of the body. The main foods eaten by most Emirati nationals are fish, meat and rice.

They also love folk type of music, related to Bedouin music. The UAE’s largest religion base, which also happens to be the official state religion of the federation, is the Islamic religion.Muslims-Sunnis are approximately 75% of the country’s population, with 9% being Christians and the other religions sharing the remainder of the Federation’s population (Mobile reference, 2010). The United Arab Emirates’ economy is considered to be stronger with in the Middle East region, with the federation having the 2nd largest economy after Saudi Arabia.

The federation’s economy is heavily dependent on crude oil and natural gas exports, as these two earn the federation a good deal of foreign exchange. As of 5 years ago, these two exports accounted for 80% of the federation’s export revenues. In recent years however, the government of the United Arab Emirates has undertaken steps to diversify its economy with other sectors such as tourism and the construction industry. The United Arab Emirates ‘ economy is also heavily dependent on foreign labor, with workers in the tourism and construction sector coming from all continents, especially the third world countries(Mobile reference, 2010).

The tourism and hospitality sector of the United Arab Emirates’ economy has been growing steadily over the last decade, as a way of diversifying the economy of the federation and reducing the over dependency on oil and natural gas revenues. Due to a rising tourism and hospitality industry, the Emirati government has been spending billions of dollars in developing infrastructure such as airports, railnetworks, subway networks and stations and roads too. The Dubai international airport was ranked as the busiest international airport in the world in 2013.

There are many major water ports that have been developed too by the government to facilitate easier imports and exports through the country’s coastline. Some of the major tourist attraction centers in the United Arab Emiratesinclude the Burj Khalifah sky scraper – the world’s tallest building, the Dubai Mall, the Dubai Creek, the Dubai Museum, DubaiWaterfront, Falcon city of Wonders and the Dubai World Trade Center. World class hospitality facilities such as the Palm Jumeirah and the Jumeirah beach hotel provide tourists and business men with ample first class accommodation.

As such, the tourism and hospitality industry is highly important to the United Arab Emirates’ economy at present (Mobile reference, 2010). 2. Current Issues Related to Hotels/ Hospitality Industry Thereare various current issues influencing the hotels and hospitality industry in the United Arab Emirates. Most of the destinations that are heavily served by this essential industry include the emirate of Abu Dhabi and the emirate of Dubai. These main destinations have a number of accommodation facilities to sufficiently cater for the tourists, business people and other visitors entering into the United Arab Emirates.

The marketing positioning of many business organizations andcompanies in the United Arab Emirate, including of hotels and accommodation providers in the federation’s tourism and hospitality industry is highly influenced by the different destinations. The various destinations frequented by tourists, visitors and even business people coming to the United Arab Emiratesare performing very well, helping the federation to diversify away from dependence on oil and natural gas reserves. A marked increase in revenue has been observed by key different tourist destinations such as the Palm Jumeirah, the Jumeirah beach hotel, the Dubai Creek among others (Mobile reference, 2010).

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