RAK plans to take on Dubai as luxury hub, gateway

Subscribe Subscribe ALBAWABA – The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) is looking to carve up a slice of wealth for itself from all the investments fluxing into the rest of the UAE. Also Read UAE stock markets pay out highest dividends in 9 years The northern UAE emirate has reportedly landed a $3. 9 billion deal with Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts Ltd.

to build a gaming resort project on the coast. As more wealth pours into Ras Al Khaimah, so does luxury. One Polish yacht maker, who caters to tennis star Rafael Nadal and Formula One champion Fernando Alonso, is said to be planning a $33 million investment to make catamarans in RAK, Bloomberg reported.

RAK is pursuing an ambitious direct foreign investment plan, under its current leadership, according to the New York-based news agency, while presenting as a haven for high-net-worth individuals. The emirate is luring five-star hotels, industrialists and adventure-seeking tourists from various countries, ranging from Russia to the Czech Republic. Immigration consultants and advisers told Bloomberg that RAK is also likely to benefit from efforts to bring in more wealth via the UAE’s citizenship-by-investment program.

Meanwhile, the emerging emirate is developing a new free zone for digital and virtual asset companies. RAK ICC already registered and incorporated tens of thousands of foreign firms. “The government will be looking at the return on capital in multiple ways – the financial return, the social return and the cultural return,” Izzat Dajani told Bloomberg.

The government of Ras Al Khaima will be measuring social and cultural impact – Source: Shutterstock Dahani is a former senior Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker and founding chief executive of the Ras Al Khaimah Investment and Development Office, the emirate’s sovereign wealth fund. Last year, the emirate set a record for annual visitors with more than 1.

1 million overnight arrivals, a 16 percent increase from the prior year, including a 40 percent gain in foreign tourists. Russia ranks among the top markets for the UAE emirate, buoyed by ongoing direct flights to and from the UAE since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine. But Ras Al Khaimah has also lured significant traffic from Kazakhstan and the UK, Bloomberg reported.

At the center of these plans is the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Saud. He’s delegated much of the emirate’s financial strategy to his daughter Sheikha Amneh al-Qasimi, a Stanford Business School alum, chairing the RAK Investment and Development Office. Ras Al Khaimah has ambitious plans that seek to position it as an alternative getaway to Dubai, Knight Frank wrote in a report focused on high-net-worth individuals.

The planned Wynn resort “is certainly giving the UAE’s northernmost emirate a certain je ne sais quoi, particularly amongst the uber-wealthy,” Faisal Durrani, Middle East research head at Knight Frank, told Bloomberg. More so, five-star hotels are already investing heavily in RAK. The InterContinental Hotels Group, Mövenpick and Radisson each opened new facilities last year, increasing the emirate’s inventory by 17 percent to more than 8,000 rooms.

The photo shows a five-star hotel in Ras Al Khaimah – Source: Shutterstock Another 19 properties are in the works, including global brands like the Westin and Nobu, which will be built by a Russian developer, the news agency confirmed. Also Read Crypto news recap: Ras Al Khaimah to create 1st free zone for digital assets Nearly 6,000 additional rooms will be added over the next few years to RAK’s inventory. Many are along the beach, fitting the emirate’s pitch of sea, sun and sand.

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