By Christian Sylt and Caroline Reid
Yas Island in Abu Dhabi is planning to add around 1,000 hotel rooms over the next five years to meet demand as its portfolio of theme parks and entertainment venues expands.
Capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abu Dhabi is home to Ferrari World, Warner Bros. World, SeaWorld and Yas Waterworld which, together, are the Middle East's most-visited theme parks. They helped to boost the number of visits to Yas Island by 10 percent to over 38 million in 2024, according to the latest data from Miral, the government-backed leisure operator which runs the attractions.
Colorful water slides under a clear blue sky.
It isn't resting on its laurels as the 25 square kilometre island is in the midst of a massive expansion plan, which will see the addition of a land themed to Harry Potter to Warner Bros. World along with new rides based on DC Comics superhero characters. Ferrari World is also due to get a record-breaking new roller coaster, while Yas Waterworld will open 11 new attractions next week including the tallest waterslide in the UAE.
Further down the line, an outpost of Topgolf, a cross between a driving range and an entertainment centre, is set to open on Yas Island, as well as the Middle East's first Disney park.
When it was announced last year, Disney's chief executive Josh D'Amaro said it would be "the most advanced and interactive destination in our portfolio". This is expected to attract tremendous traffic. American news outlet The Wrap claimed that Disney hopes as many as 32 million visitors will attend its its first year alone, which would comfortably make it the world's most-visited theme park.
Talking around the time of the announcement, Miral's dynamic chief executive Mohamed Al Zaabi lifted the curtain on its plans to accommodate the expected influx of tourists. "We are adding more attractions, more experiences, more rooms. We believe that we need at least 30 percent more rooms in the coming five years," he said.
The current tally of rooms stands at 3,217 across 10 properties with the biggest being the Hilton Yas Island, which has 545 rooms, including 59 suites. Miral owns the property along with two others on Yas Island, which are operated by Hilton: the DoubleTree and the The WB Abu Dhabi, the world's first Warner Bros.-themed hotel.
New attractions on Yas Island
The curved steel and glass structure looks like a movie studio's headquarters with spotlights illuminating the airy lobby and props displayed in elegant glass cabinets around the centrepiece spiral staircase. The rooms are inspired by the heydays of Hollywood with dark wooden room doors, gold handles, mahogany furniture, Smeg mini bars, old-fashioned rotary phones, and radios made by Marshall – famous for their guitar amps.
The hotel exudes chic and this has helped it earn a rating of 4.9 out of five stars on Tripadvisor based on a massive 2,778 reviews. It is thanks to Miral's insistence on the highest standards in its parks and resorts.
This flows from Al Zaabi, a supremely-skilled manager with a 25-year career in business. He initially worked for the UAE government and then Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi's biggest listed property developer, before he switched to Miral.
Al Zaabi is INSEAD-educated and in a recent interview with the business school, he said that the occupancy of the WB Hotel was "83 percent during July and August, but August itself was 92 percent occupancy with a very decent daily rate".
Given its popularity, it makes sense that some of the additional rooms coming to Yas Island will be part of an extension to the WB Hotel. "With the results and success of that hotel, we will add more rooms to the Warner Bros. hotel," says Al Zaabi.
This is in line with Abu Dhabi's plans, as the city intends to almost double international overnight visitors from 3.8 million in 2023 to 7.2 million in 2030 with hotel room availability growing from 34,000 in 2023 to 52,000 by 2030. It has room for expansion as its inventory currently stands at around 38,000 rooms, which is a quarter of the total in nearby Dubai.
Disneyland Abu Dhabi plans
If the Disney park is as popular as expected, the rooms in Abu Dhabi could quickly fill up, leading to guests staying in Dubai, which will soon be connected to its neighbour by a high-speed railway. Disney-themed hotels are expected to be built on Yas Island so they will add to Abu Dhabi’s room supply.
According to a report earlier this month from property consultants Cavendish Maxwell, Dubai is expanding too and will add 4,600 hotel rooms this year alone.
There is no sign that the conflict in the region has put construction on pause and there is good reason for this. In addition to attracting tourists, the theme parks are also aimed at residents and they cast a powerful spell. In 2019, the sales of Ferrari World alone hit $650 million, according to the Ministry of Economy.
As Al Zaabi explains: "Interestingly, every park has its own unique [strength]. So the number of visitation is SeaWorld, EBITDA [underlying profit] is Ferrari, revenue is Warner Bros. So every theme park has its own good indicators".
That kind of spread is a dream ticket as it creates a balanced portfolio. Other operators struggle to engineer it but for Al Zaabi, it's a walk in the park.
