Why Abu Dhabi really ought to get on with building its museums
Posted on 31 October 2011 with 2 comments from readers
So the Bolshoi Theatre is now open after a six-year restoration project, and again offers an iconic cultural delight for tourists visiting Moscow. Why then has Abu Dhabi just put its superb new Guggenheim museum on hold? The National also reports delays to the new National and Louvre museums, now to be rolled out sequentially and not all together.
ArabianMoney has grown weary of enquiries from visitors to Abu Dhabi who want to know where the museums are now. The hype surrounding their construction has been so successful that people think they are already there. As any junior marketing executive knows you don’t sell your product until you can supply it.
Tenders withdrawn
Last week a statement from the Tourism Development and Investment Company, a state-owned body, issued a statement to 11 contractors bidding for concrete works on the Guggenheim cancelling the tendering process and returning their money.
The TDIC insists that the museum is not being cancelled, although its opening date has already been moved back from 2013 to 2015. It said that the land reclamation for the projects is complete and the art collection is growing.
The rumor mill has it that Abu Dhabi is having second thoughts about the museum island scheme which is hugely expensive with estimates north of $15 billion. Officials deny this. But is this the best investment for this money?
That might have been thought of before a clutch of luxury hotels began to sprout up in the city with seven due to open over the next six months. ArabianMoney will be on a press tour of the brand new Rocco Forte hotel on Wednesday.
Work-not-in-progress
What will the concierge say when guests ask for a taxi to the museum island? Well, the beaches on Saadiyat island are said to be superb if you can’t actually find the museums.
Moscow had to wait patiently for its Bolshoi theatre to be virtually rebuilt in the restoration project. Visitors to Abu Dhabi will just have to content themselves with the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Emirates Palace Hotel and Yas Island Ferrari World complex until these huge public spaces are ready.
2 Comments posted by readers:
Abu Dhabi are being sensible and prudent in “cancelling” these ridiculous projects.
Anyone who opens their eyes can see that there is next to no demand for additional tourist attractions that don’t deliver. Don’t get me wrong, Yas Island is an amazing project but the hard facts are that Ferrari World is a monumental flop! Yas Links is struggling to attract business and the Yas Marina circuit is clearly the most boring circuit in Formula One!
Abu Dhabi should finish the hotel projects on Saadiyat Island, fill the golf course and concentrate on family fun attractions, like the new water park on Yas Island. Booms always cause complacency and the mis-allocation of available capital…just because you can..doesn’t mean you should if it’s not what the customer wants!
I think it has less to do with construction costs right now, and more to do with the long-term cash drain. Abu Dhabi have been taught a lesson by Yas — a massively expensive white elephant that, like the museum projects, can never, ever break even. Even once built, they will simply syphon money away from the budget on a huge scale.