Time to take responsibility

Leisure managers are resolving to take responsibility for their own industries, making for a refreshing trend amid the gloom of global financial pressures.

From resort managers to art gallery owners to fitness professionals, I have been impressed this month by the proactive approach to preparing for the future being taken by those of you working in the leisure industry.

Following international recognition of the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Emirates Hotels & Resorts senior vice president — resorts and projects Tony Williams acknowledged a need for the company to do more to promote its conservation and heritage work over more “sensational” news.

“I have to stand corrected on that. We are maybe not as fast coming forward as we could be — quite simply this is the largest piece of land area ever given to any project in Dubai’s history by millions of miles,” he said.

But it’s not just down to Emirates though; when it came to green issues, so frequently talked about in the leisure and spa industries at the moment, Williams brought the entire hospitality development and management industry to account.

“What can you do for hardcore environmental protection?” he asked. “Governments have got a thousand other things also to take care of. What about you?”

With the DDCA now a voting member of the IUCN, Williams said his priority would be to see a very strong framework introduced to ensure financial commitment by tourism developers towards the environment.

The need to focus on sourcing investment privately, rather than relying on government funds, was also voiced by art gallery experts in a recent roundtable organised by Leisure Manager at The Majlis Gallery in the Bastakiya, Bur Dubai.

The manager of Cuadro Fine Art Gallery in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Bashar Al-Shroogi, said: “We keep talking about funding and we keep looking to the DIFC and the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (DCAA), but I think we are at a point right now where we shouldn’t be looking at government funding anymore. We need to look at private funding; we need to look at corporate funding.

“The corporations in the region have got the money, they’re interested in corporate social responsibility and I think it’s up us to go after them,” he said, citing the example of the Bahrain Contemporary Arts Museum, which he said was entirely privately funded, with just the land provided by the government.

The owner of The Majlis Gallery Alison Collins agreed with Al-Shroogi, asking “why should the art industry be helped more than any other; we’ve got to prove that we are worthy.”

The need for the leisure sectors, which have been boosted greatly by visionary plans from the government, to take responsibility for their own growth does not just resolve around financial issues, however.

There are often complaints about the lack of industry bodies to support development, with people often looking to governments to help professionalise the industry. But what are operators doing to encourage expert bodies and accreditation schemes into the region?

The Al Corniche Club in Kuwait recently showed great initiative by organising a mini conference in partnership with the International Health, Racquets and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA). Not only will this help grow the industry as a whole, it also puts the club one step ahead of the rest, something savvy leisure managers should bear in mind.

For a full review of the Leisure Manager arts and culture roundtable, see the December issue of the magazine.

Louise Oakley is the editor of Leisure Manager.

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