FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar will be the first hosted in the Arab world and presents a fantastic opportunity to showcase not only Arab culture, but also to turbocharge growth and investment into the whole region
It must be because of the relentless ‘football’s coming home’ renditions taking over social media and my WhatsApp group chats, but I’ve been thinking about the intersection between my personal and professional passions: Football and economic development.
The link between economic growth, foreign investment and major sporting events is often debated, but sometimes unclear. These events do affect (sometimes marginally) economic growth and foreign investment into a country, but it is up to the host country to use the event as a reason to get investors in the door.
As the data below shows, the last four hosts of the FIFA World Cup experienced a ‘Capex bounce’ – each country saw an increase to its FDI inflows a year after it hosted the World Cup. Of course, many other factors will influence FDI besides the World Cup, and these bounces don’t always last, but it does go to show that there can be a positive effect following the tournament.
The FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar will be the first hosted in the Arab world – it presents a fantastic opportunity to showcase not only Arab culture, but also to turbocharge growth and investment into the whole region.
Relations between Qatar and the GCC have thawed following the Al Ula Declaration signed earlier this year, which has re-established diplomatic relations. There is therefore a significant opportunity for the entire region to benefit from this festival of football.
Qatar faces one fundamental challenge, which its neighbours can help resolve in tournament-time and use to their advantage to attract investors: Space. The furthest distance between World Cup venues in Qatar is just 55 kilometres (35 miles), and hotel capacity is constrained. Qatar plans to boost its hotel capacity to 45,000 rooms by the tournament, but FIFA estimates suggest a requirement of up to 60,000 rooms, which still leaves a shortfall.
Qatar’s neighbours can help solve these challenges, and reap an immediate, short-term benefit from this: The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain could tempt fans to stay semi-locally, helping mitigate the accommodation challenges, and fly them in and out of Qatar within an hour, boosting the tourism and airline industries so significantly impacted over the last year.
More strategically, perhaps, governments in the region should look to use the event, likely to draw in VIPs, business leaders and wealthy pockets from all around the world, as a way to showcase their countries and promote longer-term investment.
The GCC countries have all made significant improvements to their business environment, infrastructure and connectivity over the last decade. Many of them are actively promoting sustainability through FDI and looking to grow industries of the future, such as AI, agritech and nanotech. Having a captive audience, physically present, during the tournament is an invaluable opportunity that these countries should look to grab.
The region can take advantage of the legacy and global exposure resulting from the event to promote FDI.
All the stadiums in Qatar intend to leave a legacy centred around leisure, sports and entertainment, with the Qatar Tourism Authority and Invest Qatar aiming for 5.6 million tourist arrivals in 2023.
Qatar, as well as the wider GCC, should consider a longer-term legacy investment promotion effort that goes beyond tourism and targets other priority sectors.
As an example, OCO is currently working with District 2020 in Dubai, who will repurpose 80 percent of the Expo 2020 built environment into an integrated mixed-use community. We’re helping them to attract investment into key sectors such as education, smart cities, smart mobility and logistics, digital healthcare and disruptive technologies (AI, blockchain, big data, and IoT).
Investment promotion agencies across the GCC should focus on two things ahead of the tournament to seize this opportunity:
Developing a marketing campaign and outreach strategy to engage prospective investors pre, during and post-tournament
Upskilling staff on all things FDI so that they can target the right potential investors, manage the increase in enquiries, and provide effective support to turn prospects into investments
Whether or not an Arab nation wins the World Cup in 2022, they can certainly bring the money home.
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by Staff Writer
More of this topic
How football’s bringing the money home
FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar will be the first hosted in the Arab world and presents a fantastic opportunity to showcase not only Arab culture, but also to turbocharge growth and investment into the whole region
Ricky Shah, consulting manager, Middle East, OCO Global.
It must be because of the relentless ‘football’s coming home’ renditions taking over social media and my WhatsApp group chats, but I’ve been thinking about the intersection between my personal and professional passions: Football and economic development.
The link between economic growth, foreign investment and major sporting events is often debated, but sometimes unclear. These events do affect (sometimes marginally) economic growth and foreign investment into a country, but it is up to the host country to use the event as a reason to get investors in the door.
As the data below shows, the last four hosts of the FIFA World Cup experienced a ‘Capex bounce’ – each country saw an increase to its FDI inflows a year after it hosted the World Cup. Of course, many other factors will influence FDI besides the World Cup, and these bounces don’t always last, but it does go to show that there can be a positive effect following the tournament.
The FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar will be the first hosted in the Arab world – it presents a fantastic opportunity to showcase not only Arab culture, but also to turbocharge growth and investment into the whole region.
Relations between Qatar and the GCC have thawed following the Al Ula Declaration signed earlier this year, which has re-established diplomatic relations. There is therefore a significant opportunity for the entire region to benefit from this festival of football.
Qatar faces one fundamental challenge, which its neighbours can help resolve in tournament-time and use to their advantage to attract investors: Space. The furthest distance between World Cup venues in Qatar is just 55 kilometres (35 miles), and hotel capacity is constrained. Qatar plans to boost its hotel capacity to 45,000 rooms by the tournament, but FIFA estimates suggest a requirement of up to 60,000 rooms, which still leaves a shortfall.
Qatar’s neighbours can help solve these challenges, and reap an immediate, short-term benefit from this: The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain could tempt fans to stay semi-locally, helping mitigate the accommodation challenges, and fly them in and out of Qatar within an hour, boosting the tourism and airline industries so significantly impacted over the last year.
More strategically, perhaps, governments in the region should look to use the event, likely to draw in VIPs, business leaders and wealthy pockets from all around the world, as a way to showcase their countries and promote longer-term investment.
The GCC countries have all made significant improvements to their business environment, infrastructure and connectivity over the last decade. Many of them are actively promoting sustainability through FDI and looking to grow industries of the future, such as AI, agritech and nanotech. Having a captive audience, physically present, during the tournament is an invaluable opportunity that these countries should look to grab.
The region can take advantage of the legacy and global exposure resulting from the event to promote FDI.
All the stadiums in Qatar intend to leave a legacy centred around leisure, sports and entertainment, with the Qatar Tourism Authority and Invest Qatar aiming for 5.6 million tourist arrivals in 2023.
Qatar, as well as the wider GCC, should consider a longer-term legacy investment promotion effort that goes beyond tourism and targets other priority sectors.
As an example, OCO is currently working with District 2020 in Dubai, who will repurpose 80 percent of the Expo 2020 built environment into an integrated mixed-use community. We’re helping them to attract investment into key sectors such as education, smart cities, smart mobility and logistics, digital healthcare and disruptive technologies (AI, blockchain, big data, and IoT).
Investment promotion agencies across the GCC should focus on two things ahead of the tournament to seize this opportunity:
Whether or not an Arab nation wins the World Cup in 2022, they can certainly bring the money home.
Ricky Shah, consulting manager, Middle East, OCO Global.
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