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Optical Middle East
provides a gateway to a wealthy and rapidly developing
market. The past years have seen huge expansion in the
economies of the Arabian Gulf States fuelled by enormous oil
and gas revenues and highly successful moves in to large
scale retail, property and tourism ventures
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 Imports of quality optical
products across the Middle East were estimated at over US$2.2
Billion in 2007. |
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Retail space in the Arabian
Gulf is growing by over 50% per year and is expected to exceed
11 Million square metres by the end of 2010. The United Arab
Emirates alone boasts some of the largest shopping malls in the
world. Many of these malls contain a wide variety of modern high
quality opticians and outlets retailing sunglasses. |
Abu Dhabi currently boasts
the highest GDP in the world at US$46,147. The Arabian Gulf
States boast year round sunshine, high tax free incomes, and
young fashion conscious populations. The combination of these
factors means that regional consumers are happy to spend
significant sums of money on optical products.
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The Emirates has the world’s
second highest rate of diabetes which in turn is leading to a
dramatic rise in the number of visually impaired requiring eye
surgery and treatment. Spending on Medical & Surgical products
is currently booming with an estimated total import value of in
excess of US$92 Billion in 2007 with a yearly growth rate of
13.6%. |
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Opticians enjoy higher than
average per capita business based on the fact that over 50% of
people in the United Arab Emirates require vision correction. |
