Despite the scorching heat, countries in the Middle East are continuing to build theme parks. Qatar is the latest, greenlighting a $5.5 billion project 40 minutes north of the capital Doha. It’s called Simaisma and it’s been built by a state-owned company, Qatari Diar, appointed by the government. With a theme park at its core, the project will span eight million square meters (1,976 acres) along seven kilometers of beachfront land. The development is also set to include an 18-hole golf course surrounded by 300 villas, hotels, a marina and beach club, as well as homes and shops. The theme park aspect of the development will be around 650,000 square meters. Qataris are in talks with various theme park operators to run the park.

The official emphasised that in 2023, the property market witnessed considerable interest about 82 percent of vacant land transacted was intended for villas and houses as per the data and analysis from the Minister of Justice. This figure is poised to grow further this year, the official said. Apart from the housing sector, the tourism and hospitality market is also anticipated to impact positively. Market analysts state that the hotel and hotel apartment markets performed exceptionally well towards the end of 2023, and greater travel volume within the GCC will benefit this sector significantly this year.