NOVEMBER'S inaugural Formula One race in Abu Dhabi will be keenly watched for more than just Jenson Button’s performance.
The event will be one of the first big tests of the emirate’s billion-dirham attempt to diversify the emirate’s gross domestic product away from hydrocarbons. Abu Dhabi has nine per cent of the world’s oil reserves.
With F1 among the top three sporting draws for tourists, tourism chiefs believe the emirate is on track to hit its 2009 target of 1.5 million tourists in spite of the global economic crisis. The emirate has added 3,000 new hotel rooms to its inventory this year alone, most in time for the race, and seven new hotels will be operational around the 50,000-capacity circuit on Yas Island before race week.
Officials are hoping the emirate can pull in the same kind of numbers last year’s debut Singapore race did, which attracted more than 100,000 people, 40 per cent of them foreigners, according to Singapore Tourism Board statistics. A similar number attend the Sao Paulo race each year. Malaysia’s Sepang circuit attracts about 35,000 spectators each year, each staying an average of 5.4 nights.
Closer to home, Bahrain has already benefitted tremendously from hosting a Formula One race, drawing 94,000 fans this year.
While economic impact figures are unavailable for 2009, the race has brought in nearly $2 billion in income from the event for the five years to 2008.
By Clark Kelly