Dubai Parks & Resorts, a US$2.9bn (€2.6bn, £2bn) development slated to open in October, has announced that it’s adding a Six Flags to its current trio of themed attractions: Legoland Dubai, Motiongate and Bollywood Parks.

The Six Flags Dubai park is expected to cost US$454m (€405m, £319m) and will be funded with money raised through share issues. The project, opening in 2019, should add a new dimension to the Dubai Parks & Resorts existing offer with a variety of thrilling experiences targeted at a younger audience.

In April 2014, Attractions Management reported that Six Flags Entertainment Corporation and owners Dubai Parks & Resorts’ investment firm Meraas Holdings signed a deal to open a Dubai park in 2017.

Construction commenced on a Six Flags theme park in Haiyan, China, early this year and in March, the company announced plans to open two parks in Vietnam. Rumours of Six Flags coming to both Malaysia and Singapore have also long been in circulation.

As Dubai and other emirates and nations in the region are focusing more energy on tourism, many are predicting the dawn of a new global theme park hub – dubbed Orlando 2.0. Dubai alone has three parks opening in the next couple of years, with Fox World Dubai and IMG Worlds of Adventure entering the market alongside Dubai Parks & Resorts.

“There are numerous parks and developments currently in the region and we don’t consider them competition, we consider them complementary,” Dubai Parks & Resorts chief technical officer Matthew Priddy told Attractions Mangement in January.

Six Flags originally announced plans to locate a theme park in Dubai – and in nearby Qatar – in 2008, but both projects were shelved in the wake of the global recession.