With ambitions to welcome 440,000 visitors a year by 2024, the government of Kuwait is pressing ahead with multiple plans that will see billions of dollars invested in projects and a further USD 1 billion budget earmarked for promoting the Gulf state over the same period
Vision 2035
In 2016, The Kuwait National Development Plan (KNDP) set the nation’s long-term development priorities to bring Vision 2035 to fruition. The far-reaching initiative is organized around five themes, or desired outcomes, and seven pillars, or areas of focus for investment and improvement. Each pillar has a number of strategic programs and projects that are designed to drive forward the vision for a new Kuwait. Under this new plan, various infrastructure projects and larger development projects will be executed in a way that boosts several key economic components, including tourism and hospitality.
Boosting the airports
To increase the capacity of Kuwait International Airport (KIA) and develop it into a new regional air hub in the Gulf, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the operator of KIA, has proposed the development of a new terminal building. A USD 4.5 billion construction contract was given to Turkish company Limak, making it the biggest tender awarded internationally in a single package to Turkish contractors. The new terminal will be constructed in stages. The first phase will add capacity for 13 million passengers annually, eventually rising to 50 million passengers per year as the additional phases are completed. The project, which kicked off in May 2017, is slated to be completed within four years. A new terminal for Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways is also expected to be complete in March 2018. The USD 46.3 million project should help to reduce congestion at KIA.
Mega cities underway
With the new vision come new projects. Madinat Al Hareer (Silk City), a project by Tamdeen Group currently under development, will be one of the largest mixed-use project concepts in the world once finished. Located in the Subiya area, northern Kuwait, and covering approximately 250 square kilometers, the project reflects the Group’s vision for the country. It also highlights the potential that exists for creating an integrated and revolutionary designed city that will raise the international standards for urban architecture and planning. Tamdeen are also working on several other projects, including the USD 407 million Al Kout project, the largest waterfront retail, hospitality and entertainment destination in the country, which has now entered the final stages of construction. Occupying a plot of 300,000 square meters, the Al Kout project offers six diverse experiences, the most modern of which is Al Kout Mall, expected to open during the first quarter of 2018. Sabah Al Ahmad City is another ongoing multi-billion-dollar project. Located in Al-Ahmadi governorate 50 kilometers south of Kuwait City, the project occupies 35 million square meters of space and is expected to accommodate a total of 9,000 housing units. The city will include plenty of investment opportunities, from those in the commercial malls and hotels to other openings in apartments, commercial, health, sports, tourism and educational ventures, alongside a technology village. In a separate development, work is also underway on Al Mutlaa City. Kuwait hopes that the mega-project, which includes plans to develop five islands at an investment cost of USD 160 billion, will eventually generate around USD 40 billion dollars a year, in addition to providing about 200,000 jobs, according to a government study. The project, which includes the islands of Boubyan, Warbah, Failaka, Maskan and Aouha, will boast tourist and leisure areas with Venetian-like waterways, shopping centers, a world-class travel center and treatment centers. It will house some 400,000 people and will take a period of 20 years to complete.
Hotels and restaurants
According to data compiled by the country’s Central Statistical Bureau for 2017, the number of hotels in Kuwait had doubled from a maximum of 60 a decade ago to more than 120 hotels offering 13,600 beds last year. Currently, 3,000 hotel rooms are in the pipeline and will be available by 2020. Major hotel chains will be debuting new properties. These include: Grand Hyatt (260 rooms); two hotels at The Avenues; Conrad (158 rooms); Garden Inn (430 rooms); and Mandarin Oriental (250 rooms). With Kuwait home to 2.2 million foreigners and annual spending at restaurants reaching USD 3.5 billion, savvy restaurateurs from around the world are flocking to the country, according to industry consultancy, Aaron Allen & Associates. The firm’s figures reveal that there are over 4,700 restaurants in the country, equating to almost one eatery for every 230 people, many of which form part of international chains, such as IHOP, Chili’s and KFC.
