The UK-based Extreme Group has exclusively revealed to Leisure Manager that it is in negotiations to sign a deal for a new type of theme park in the Middle East.
The Ex Park concept is for a theme park based on action sports, video gaming and all of the lifestyle elements that surround these activities.
Extreme Group founder and CEO Al Gosling said: "We are talking to a number of relevant partners across the region, including companies based in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.
"The vision is for a 150-acre to 200-acre theme park which will be zoned around different sports, including freestyle motorcross, surfing, windsurfing, wakeboarding, skateboarding, BMX and mountain biking. For example, the freestyle motorcross zone will feature the biggest freestyle motorcross track, rides inspired by the sport and a video gaming area based on freestyle motorcross."
Gosling added: "There is nothing like this anywhere in the world".
Ex Parks will incorporate modern sports facilities such as sky-diving, wind tunnels and double wave zones with full experiential theme park rides based on specific sports.
The aim of the concept is to appeal to the whole family.
"If we just built a sports park, it would only be used by a certain amount of people who are really into sport.
"This is where we've seen sports parks fail in the past," asserted Gosling.
He said that although there are various parks and venues that are designed for these types of extreme sports, there is currently nothing that brings together all of the elements of an Ex Park.
"If we develop a park which is 20-30% sports-based with the rest of it as a theme park, we attract the whole family. They have a choice of sports, rides or gaming," he said.
Gosling cites the reasons for entering the Middle East market as being the growth of the attractions industry in the region, its positioning between Europe and Asia and the visionary nature of people in the area.
"It's a case of finding the right partner to support us and the right funding," he said.
Extreme Group is also developing an Ex Park in Spain, the UK and Holland, though these are smaller versions of the concept planned for the Middle East.
"We are also launching The GameStar, which is a separate gaming venue, intended to be an anchor project for large retail mall developments in the region," explained Gosling.
Ex Parks will be mixed-use facilities incorporating existing brands from Extreme Group such as Extreme Hotels, Ex Stores, Ex Clothing, Ex Freshies - a café concept already in Dubai - and the Extreme Sports Channel.
The parks will be able to capitalise on the marketing power of the channel, which is broadcast in more than 70 countries to 40 million people.
The plan is also to use Ex Parks to host events and professional competitions, catering to the 168 million active extreme sports participants worldwide (figures from SBJ, SBG and Advertising Age).
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