By Mark Seavy

The operation and construction of licensed theme parks across the Middle East continues despite ongoing global conflicts.

But in a region where tourism is and will continue to be a key driver of the economy, the concern is less about building the parks and turning a profit than about the conflict dampening consumer interest.

The issue is rooted in consumers’ perception of safety in the Gulf Region, something that has taken a hit since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack on Iran on February 28.

Airlines in the region are slowly resuming flights, which were shut down when the conflict broke out. But schedules are being adjusted and there remain delays as well as cancellations at major hubs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. The full impact on parks in these countries is just now being gauged as attendance was also affected by the Ramadan period, which ran this year from February 17 to March 18.

“Many of the projects remain open, but hotel occupancies have tanked,” an LBE licensing executive said. “The jury is out on how long it takes to recover. The concern is that perception of these countries being safe from the rest of the world has been diminished. The question is how quickly can the parks get back to pre-conflict perceptions?”

Many projects in the region are less profit driven—due to being funded by the countries themselves—and are instead about nation building. Despite that focus, the attractions market in the Middle East and parts of Africa generates $24.3 billion in annual revenue, driven by government investment in tourism and entertainment infrastructure, according to the International Association for Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA).

There are, of course, experiential offerings in the region that are not focused on nation building, like publicly traded Six Flags Entertainment’s new park that opened in Qiddiya City in Saudi Arabia on December 31 under a licensing agreement with the Qiddiya Investment Co. and remains open. A water park, Aquarabia, opened at the facility on March 20.

But others have less profit pressure, like government-owned licensee Miral Asset Management’s 9.7-square-mile Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE, which is home to the indoor Ferrari World (one million visitors annually) and Warner Bros. World (1.4 million) and, eventually, Disneyland (2030). Ferrari World was the first to open in 2010, followed eight years later by Warner Bros. World, which plans to add a Harry Potter World in 2028. Moving forward, Yas Island is key to a multi-year strategy to broaden UAE’s revenue beyond a reliance on natural resources like oil.

“It is all about long-term nation building as opposed to profitability,” a licensee executive said. “There is no possible way that some of these parks as individual investments will ever pay. They might be in the red for years to come. They are intended to completely change the character, size and scale, and perception of the Gulf countries. If you look at the geographic economies, these could be an enormous success.”

Some theme park projects will be unaffected if the conflict does not continue into the long term. This includes the Dragonball Theme Park in Saudi Arabia, which was scheduled to begin construction this year and is set to open in 2029. Additionally, Saudia Entertainment Ventures (SEVEN) signed a deal with Hasbro in 2023 to create Play-Doh attractions.

“Do all the projects proceed and open as announced? They never do,” a theme park analyst said. “That is just the way it is, and starting construction [on a theme park] is a relative term regardless of whether there are conflicts like the one in Iran. It is always a moving target.”