The economic downturn, with a weakening oil market, resulted in the growth of divergent businesses that led to competition between destination-branded hotels and non-hotel-based firms in the fitness sector in the United Arab Emirates. Since hotel-based fitness firms have targeted both residents and tourists, the declining customer inflows have alarmed non-hotel-based fitness firms, leading to explore the market and appraise their service qualities, particularly given that their customers have experienced unexpected reductions in their discretionary spending habits. This paper analyzes factors in customers' perception of service quality and its relation to customer satisfaction and retention. A sample of 186 member-customers was randomly selected from all non-hotel-based fitness firms functioning in Abu Dhabi. The primary data were collected through surveys and interviews. Respondents prioritized price, quality, hygiene and safety as major factors when assessing service quality. Although a high service quality index score and customer satisfaction indicated the drive for customer retention, the steady-state matrix apparent in the second year in a Markov analysis suggests that firms focus on improvising their marketing mix to increase customers' spending time in fitness centers and maximize customers' satisfaction with the main purpose of their visit, their own wellbeing and stress reduction. This study fills a research gap and helps fitness firms understand the importance of appraising customers' perceptions of service quality in a downswing market, and of devising niche strategies to gain competitive advantage.

The United Arab Emirates has witnessed an exodus of long-term non-resident Indians, especially Malayalees, due to unforeseen impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The Emirates' consequent economic setbacks, including a fear of the virus and falling job and financial security, threatened the survival of Indiansthe largest expatriate demographic in the world and the Emirates. While apprehensive about their homeland's ability to accommodate a mass reverse migrant population, the reverse migrants still retained attributes and values they associated with migration to the Emirates. Since the UAE hosts the largest number of Keralites in the world, the sample for this study comprises the first batch of Gulf-Malayalees, who had registered to return to Kerala. Through a means-end approach, this study reviews respondents' attributes, consequences, and values at the time of migration and compares it with their perceptions during the sudden Covid-19 related reverse migration from the United Arab Emirates.

Purpose -Globalization has brought apparent transformations to the UAE market. Shift in market trends due to a growing multicultural population induces marketers to update their marketing strategies. Focusing on the purchase behavior and level of satisfaction of consumers coming from different regions, the purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of multi-cultural consumers in the buying behaviour in the Abu Dhabi market for durable and non-durable consumer products. Design/methodology/approach -The sampling frame to examine the impact of heterogeneous culture in a geocentric market comprised 300 consumers belonging to different nationalities working in the UAE. Satisfaction Index, Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance and Kruskal -Wallis test were used to test hypotheses constructed from literature. Findings -The three hypotheses formulated to test inter-cultural differences revealed the influence of multi-culture on consumers' buying behaviour. This paper recommends that by optimizing the utility of well-advanced digital media in the Emirates, marketers can customize strategies by which to penetrate culturally segmented niches. Originality/value -Global marketing is emerging in the Arab markets, assuming that global culture will bring about a paradigm shift from homogenous to heterogeneous buying habits. Exploring the influence of multicultural consumerism, the study illustrates the divergent demands of Abu Dhabi consumers.