Sport Consumers in the Middle East: Motorsport in the UAE

The Middle East contains a limited amount of published research into the types of sport consumed and by whom. In order to address this deficit the author introduces unpublished regionally based market research conducted by the TGI Arabiain conjunction with the Pan Arab Research Centre, UAE which identifies the demographic profile of sports consumers in the area and the characteristics of one sport consumer group; motorsport enthusiasts in the UAE. Motorsports is an emergent sport in the region; within the UAE it has seen a vast increase in consumers due to the introduction of the Abu Dhabi F1Grand Prix in 2008. Within the area volunteering is growing as a mode of sport engagement and the author finds the sport becoming increasingly consumer led; where motorsport is already the fifth most popular sport and growing. As such, identifying the consumer profile of motorsports participants in the region has the potential to opens up an array of marketing and sponsorship opportunities.