Forthcoming Trade Mission
Brief by Ian Solomon.
See also PROGRAM OF EVENTS which follows
There are two parts to the trip. One is representatives from Gold Coast's burgeoning marine industry (not all will be members of the new Chamber) attending the Dubai International Boat Show commencing 15 March joined on or around the 18th by "General Industry" delegates from this newly established Chamber.
By way of brief background, as you probably are aware, part of Gold Coast City's overall economic diversification strategy which commenced in 1995, included "marine" as one of 8 key industry sectors. It has been a high profile and much lauded stand-out success with over 5,500 employed in this sector now and forecasts showing this to grow to as much as 10,000 over the next ten years. High quality end product combined with labour costs and productivity (compared with Europe & USA) has seen much Gold Coast marine export, worth some US$250 million last year into our City.
The Dubai show is the biggest in the Middle East and presents a wonderful and liberal gateway to the region of 1.5 billion people. With almost limitless demand for western products, a very young and well educated populace and high disposable income, Gold Coast marine manufacturers are well poised to maximise the preliminary work done by earlier missions, the strong repute of our product and the rapid increase in general familiarity with Gold Coast City.
The local (Middle East) has only low volume boat manufacturers of a limited range of vessels and comparatively lower quality, and the region is very used to a culture of imported goods to assure quality especially in the areas of food-stuffs, cars, electronics, etc. There is little reason not to expect this will spill over into the marine sector too. America's Brunswick Corporation (Searay, Bayliner brands) has a bit of a head start but not much whilst Azimut (Italy) and Sunseeker/Princess (UK) have a lead in larger sub-super yacht sectors. Additionally, it is estimated 30% of all the World's super-yachts (60' +) are owned by Middle-Easterners although few are based there, mostly in the French and Italian Rivieras.
Geo-political reasons could trigger a big shift in this pattern, e.g. France's recent outlawing of traditional head-wear is viewed as fiercely anti-Arab, which opens up all sorts of opportunities to attract these vessels to our waters for long stays/refits/major services at Coomera, etc. (The value of and efforts re super yacht chapter is positive story for another time).
In Dubai especially, but also many other Middle-East locations, massive amount of simply vast civic projects are underway. Off-shore islands, canal estates, complete with waterfront hotels, apartments, luxury homes, etc., etc. are being constructed at the cost of $billions. Virtually nobody yet lives on waterfront at this time so this is a lifestyle choice that will drive an untold demand for pleasure boats from the humble dinghy right through to mega-yachts. This will include all types of ancilary services such as pontoons, jetties, equipment, services, etc. which Gold Coast possesses at world competitive and demonstrated sophisticated levels.
The climate is good except for July & August when it is oppressively hot. The Arabian Gulf is quite clean, the water is blue and warm and has excellent fishing and coral reef diving spots and offers much upside in terms of liesure boating opportunities.
There are substantial opportunities for joint-ventures with locals in this regard and those entrepreneurial enough to to the early leg work will find a free-way to the region and raw-labour costs in Dubai some one-tenth of Australia domestic production and working hours up to half more.
During July & August this year some 12,800 Middle Easterners were long stay tourists to Gold Coast City this year. I have a raft of other statistics on this. Around half were from UAE or Kuwait. Whilst not to over-state this, these long stayers are generally larger family groups from the higher levels of Dubai, etc. management and senior government people. This serves to further consolidate and familiarise our Gold Coast City's image of value, branding and reliability with the "right" connections.
Have no doubt, establishing the right connections will deliver a gateway to anyone hoping to open up business links in the Middle-East. Unlike Australia, public servants are encouraged to be entrepreneurial outside of their professional function. So long as there is no direct conflict of interest, these connections should prove to be of utmost value.
To take advantage of a full program, our Chamber delegates should arrive on 18 or 19 March and take in the final day of the Boat Show. Over the following couple of days we are planning a formal civic reception and a joint Chamber of Commerce function where the sign-off of the MOU between GC and Dubai Chambers will hopefully take place. We would like to make this as large as possible with as many Gold Coast representatives along as possible, including members of the Marine delegation who may or may not choose to have an on-going involvement with the GCC-D Chamber.
Over these days there will be many opportunities for specific meetings to be pre-arranged between like-businesses with the assistance of Austrade, the Dubai Municipality and the Dubai Chamber of Commerce for our Gold Coast Dubai Chamber delegates.
We have direct access to a Gold Coast based senior Austrade officer who has lived and worked in Dubai and this is an invaluable heads-up for participants - especially those that commit early. For new exporters, Gold Coast City Council's Economic Development unit will offer a 50% subsidy of the hourly rate of $120 per hour for up to 4 hours setting up specific connections/introductions.
Gold Coast City Mayor Ron Clarke has announced his intention to attend (confirmed verbally through the CEO) and participate.
I cannot overstate the prestige accorded us and hospitality which was extended in May when the earlier Sister City delegation went to Dubai. With their system of the Sheik as Ruler and the City/State administered by the Municipality (no elections whatsoever), much reverence is extended to a Civic delegation.
The value of heightened or "accelerated" credibility in having the Mayor and Mayoress (if possible) along, brings to members of the delegation plus the higher levels of introductions thus made possible, cannot be understated.
Quite simply, the more high level commercial people we get into this delegation the better it will be and assists the Mayor with the "political" justification to commit to joining it.
At this early stage, Peter Gleeson, Chief Reporter for the Gold Coast Bulletin has been appraised of the mission details. All participants should encourage both the City Council and the Bulletin to put their muscle behind these efforts.
I have previously been on an interstate delegation with Peter some years ago when some local Chamber of Commerce presidents visited the capital markets of Melbourne and Sydney to gauge their prevailing views of our City as a business place. Peter is an internationally experienced journalist whose coverage of that trip resulted in an acknowledgment of our serious shortcomings and triggered the City Image program which remains on-going today. He is a personable fellow to boot and his presence should result in solid media coverage of our efforts and cannot be underestimated.
Whilst the itinery and program is still evolving, we have no fixed date to finish up at this time but those who can stay on until Saturday 26th for the running of the Emirates Dubai Cup (at US$8 million first prize is the richest horse-race in the World) should enjoy the hospitality and witness a great spectacle.
The Mayor has also been invited to go on to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE by the UAE Ambassador to Australia. (There are 7 Emirates that make up the Federation of the UAE). At this time we have no dates or plans in this regard preferring the view we are probably better to fully emerse ourselves in Dubai and maximise the Sister City opportunities possible at this time. However, as Abu Dhabi is only 120 kilometres up the Coast and a bit over an hour's drive, it may be worth exploring for those so inclined to do so - especially to reinforce the vastness of the Middle Eastern market. If there are enough interested participants, we will organise a coach for a day or overnight in this regard.
Dubai is a large and booming market with much opportunities. It is important for interested parties to recognise whilst Gold Coast City enjoys a Sister City status and Australians are viewed positively (there are some 5000 ex-pats working in Dubai), it is a location that attracts World attention and is extremely competitive.
The objective of the Chamber of Commerce is to build long term relationships that may take time to deliver a yield. The more advance work that is done, the more individual delegates will get out of the trip. However, anyone expecting to participate, arrive and sign up a major deal on day one or even this trip, will be disappointed.
This may mean Dubai and the Chamber may not be either attractive or suitable for every business person. This trip should be viewed as a fact finding, contact building and market familiarisation. The bonus is the Civic, Chamber and Sister City status able to be delivered.
At this stage almost everyone stating interest has desired Business Class flights and we are proposing to use Emirates out of Brisbane. Emirates is a lovely Airline and the flight is roughly 16 hours in two halves broken by a one hour stopover in Singapore. As most business people interested at this time are at senior level, we are arranging business class fares, much of the on-ground activity and the formal receptions. We are also encouraging our party to stay at the one venue for logistics and "apre" benefits.
Costings not yet firm but delegates should expect outlays in the vicinity of $8,000 to $14,000 as preliminary guide which covers travel, accommodation and ground costs. The Chamber will provide introductions, the mission program of activity, ground logistics, liaison with GCCC, Austrade, and the Dubai Chamber and Municipality. Because people seem to be wanting to come and go on varying dates, be joined by their spouses, business associates, etc, it is not intended at this stage to provide variations or personalised travel arrangments or flight bookings, however we expect to have an excellent rate at one of the most prestigious hotels in Dubai for all the delegation to stay in.
An on going membership with the Chamber for three or four local events over the coming year plus the opportunity to participate in hosting a reciprocal visit from Dubai later in the year as well as a number of other events/sessions specifically aimed at deliver of return to participants who remain active in the Dubai relationship, has been set at $1200 plus g.s.t. for the first year. This will include a good standard of catering at these events. (Click on Benefits of Membership for specific information).
There are some excellent travel deals around including one through Platinum Amex which has a two for one Business Class deal. Business partners/associates would be quite a bit less per person and husband/wives in double accom also substantially less. We are presently awaiting a special rate response from the preferred hotel and should know in a day or so (by 26 or 27 January).
Interested participants should reply email direct by the of January. We hope we will have between 10 and 20 in our delegation all up which is a managable size yet also delivers some exclusivity to maximise the opportunities. The intra-mission networking should also be viewed as a commercial opportunity.
I am happy to speak to you further so details can be fine tuned and arrangements locked in and propose holding a meeting at the end of January to run through travel arrangements, etc and help delegates identify ways to fill their programs. Again, it's all a bit rubbery until we have a handle on the size of the group and individual's specific objectives.
My numbers are Office 07 5528 5506, Fax 5528 5507, Mob 0412 754416.
All my numbers are in the White Pages listed under "Solomon Ian".
Dubai 2005 Mission Program Highlights
Marine delegates will be attending the Dubai International Boat Show 15 thru 19 March.
General delegates should aim to arrive on or by 18 March to take in last day of Boat Show spectacle.
March 20 Formal Welcome Reception and sign off of MOU with Dubai Chamber of Commerce.
Development project Tour including The Palms (man-made island development), Dubai Marina (100 new high rise apartments), Burj Al Arab Hotel.
March 21 Infrastructure tour including Desalination Plant, Dubai Dry Dock (over half a kilometre in length) and Port precinct.
Joint GCCC and Dubai Municipality reception (evening event).
March 22 Tour of International Finance and banking Centre, Media City, Internet City, Knowledge City and Stock Exchange.
Night Desert excursion and dinner.
March 24 Free Day / Immersion day with "partners" drawn from local business men operating in like fields of endeavour.
Joint GCCC and Dubai Municipality reception (evening event) Co-ordinated by a GCCC Economic Development Liaison Officer.
March 25 Abu Dhabi day trip (possible overnight depending on level of interest).
March 26 Dubai World Cup Program (2 pm thru midnight).
PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS THE PROPOSED PROGRAM OF EVENTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE DEPENDING ON FINAL NUMBERS, ACCESS , ETC