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Dubai ranks first in terms of international visitors and visitor expenditures in the region ahead of Cairo and Riyadh, according to a survey by MasterCard.

Global Wealth 2011_Shaping a New Tomorrow

It is BMI's view that the UAE will continue to make concerted efforts to place itself at the centre of theglobal forwarding network. The air and especially maritime sectors will see healthy growth over the midterm. After an estimated return to growth for the UAE's primary ports in 2010, we forecast this growth tocontinue over the medium term, albeit at a slower rate than before the global economic slowdown in2009. The air and logistics sectors in the UAE continues to grow at pace, with more logistics companiesrelocating their hubs to the country, and national air carriers continuing to expand and post improvedresults. The country does not yet have a rail freight sector, but the UAE's inaugural state of the art railnetwork is now under way. Total trade in real terms will also enjoy healthy growth over our forecastperiod.Headline Industry Data2011 Jebel Ali and Port Rashid total tonnage throughput forecast to be 150.18mn tonnes, following anestimated 140.62mn tonnes in 2010.2011 airfreight tonnes through Dubai airport forecast to reach 2.18mn tonnes and to grow to 2.81mntonnes by 2015.UAE total trade real growth in 2011 forecast to be 8.55%.Key Industry TrendsRail Development Continues ApaceEtihad Rail's state of the art network is to be focused primarily on freight rather than being utilised asdedicated passenger link between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. There has been a slight deviation from 2010'splan and the AED40bn (US$10.9bn) network will be shorter in length - 1,200km - as opposed to theoriginal 1,500km. The project is to be built in three phases across all seven emirates and will begin in2012, with the completion date due for 2019. We believe that railway development will not only benefitthe states internally, but once they are connected will also help enhance trade between the members of theGulf Cooperation Council (GCC).Air Sector Still Flying HighThe Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) is weighing up the possibility o

We increase our nominal GDP growth, fiscal and trade estimates for Algeria and the GCC. We now expect a 23.8% acceleration in GCC nominal GDP in 2011 versus 17.8% previously. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE are set to see the greatest rise in oil revenue and real oil sector growth, with the largest production increase, while Qatar should benefit from oil-linked gas prices. Oil prices have risen faster than government spending, providing a comfortable fiscal position even in the event of another oil price correction.