The luxury Italian cruise liner MSC Lirica will spend its winters based in Mina Zayed from next year after an agreement between the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ABTA) and the ship's owner, MSC Cruises.
The 784-cabin liner, which has nine passenger decks, will be the first cruise ship to call Abu Dhabi its home port. It is expected to bring millions of dirhams and thousands of additional tourists to the capital when it starts its operations next October.
Pierfrancesco Vago, the chief executive of MSC Cruises, said: "MSC Cruises is proud to become the first cruise company to choose Abu Dhabi as a home port. With our state-of-the-art vessel operating 95 [port] calls and rotating in the region, our presence will have a significant impact on Abu Dhabi's tourism industry."
The agreement signed by the ADTA and MSC says that Mina Zayed will serve as the primary embarkation and disembarkation port for the 59,000-tonne ship.
The elevation from port-of-call to home port is expected to attract an additional 43,000 tourists to the emirate from Europe. In turn, this is expected to bring Dh135 million (US$36.7m) to the capital. The cruising season in the Gulf runs from October to May.
Mubarak al Muhairi, the director general of the ADTA, said: "MSC Cruises's commitment to Abu Dhabi as a home port will deliver both tactical and strategic outcomes for the emirate. Beyond substantial, broad-based benefits to our domestic tourism sector through incremental gains in hotel guests, longer length of stay and greater spending, this partnership provides Abu Dhabi a firm footing on the international cruise tourism map and reinforces the strategic case for a world-class, purpose-built cruise terminal in the Emirate."
The partnership is expected to help the capital to reach its target of attracting a total of 2.3 million visitors by the end of 2012. The ADTA's independent study revealed home-port visitors customarily pump more money into the domestic economy than port-of-call visitors since they stay in town and go on tours. Airlines, hotels and the retail sector all stand to benefit as a result.
Mr al Muhairi said: "To harness the potential increase in cruise visitors, it is vital that we continue improving the emirate's existing cruise infrastructure and invest in the active development of pre and post-cruise options.
He said the ADTA was in the early stages of the development of a dedicated cruise terminal capable of handling up to 180 giant and boutique cruise liners a year.
"A state-of-the-art cruise terminal would greatly leverage Abu Dhabi's positional and island geographies, strengthen our case to become the leading regional cruise hub over the next five years and place the inbound hotel guest target on a firm course," Mr al Muhairi said.
The capital's cruise arrivals rose 44 per cent from 125,000 passengers in 2008 to 2009 season to 180,000 passengers. The current season is expected to attract 30 per cent more passengers, bringing the total for this season to 235,000 passengers.
Between next October and March 2012, MSC Lirica will make 19 eight-day/seven-night cruises from Abu Dhabi to Muscat, Fujairah, Bahrain, Dubai and back to the capital.
The cost of these cruises is expected to be between €700 (Dh3,605)and €3,000, with children under the age of 18 sailing for free with their families.
business@thenational.ae
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: SimpliFi
Started: August 2021
Founder: Ali Sattar
Based: UAE
Industry: Finance, technology
Investors: 4DX, Rally Cap, Raed, Global Founders, Sukna and individuals
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Racecard
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HEADLINE HERE
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
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