Abu Dhabi, a Persian Gulf emirate with 8 percent of global oil reserves, plans to build the world's first Ferrari theme park to lure tourists and lessen its dependence on energy.
Ferrari World will headline the emirate's $40 billion transformation of Yas Island, a 2,500 hectare plot in the Gulf opposite Iran, into a luxury tourist destination, Aldar Properties PJSC, a developer owned by Abu Dhabi's ruling al-Nahyan family, said in a statement today. The family owns 5 percent of Ferrari SpA, maker of the eponymous Italian sports car.
Abu Dhabi and other sheikhdoms in the United Arab Emirates, which has 8 percent of the world's oil and a population of less than 4 million, are spending their rising wealth on development projects to wean their economies from energy. Dubai, the U.A.E.'s second-largest sheikhdom after Abu Dhabi, plans to spend $33 billion to build the world's largest airport.
“Yas Island will be a global destination that will take Abu Dhabi to the world,'' Aldar Chief Executive Officer Ronald Barrott, said in a telephone interview from Abu Dhabi today.
Ferrari World, to be completed by 2009, will be a “hi-tech theme park,'' including simulator rides, roller coasters, an interactive museum, a theater with an Italian-themed play and a race track, Barrott said.
Yas Island, which is to be completed in 2014, will include a golf course, hotels and residences, Barrott said.
Abu Dhabi started its own airline, Etihad Airways, in 2003 and plans to spend $6.8 billion expanding Abu Dhabi International Airport as it looks to emulate neighboring Dubai's success as a tourist destination.
Dubai attracted 1.7 million visitors in the first three months of 2006, versus 1.6 million a year earlier. Its Emirates Airline, established in 1985, is the biggest Arab carrier.
Dubai is building three man-made islands in the Persian Gulf which are to add 520 kilometers (322) miles of coastline. Other projects include the Burj Dubai, which may be the tallest building in the world upon completion in 2008, and Dubailand, a $20 billion tourism project three times the size of Manhattan.
