DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai and its Gulf Arab neighbors aredeveloping hotels worth about $18 billion, including the
world’s largest, according to data from a Dubai research firm,
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PHOTOS: Dream — or Nightmare — Hotelsas the region uses record oil wealth to diversify its economy.
The United Arab Emirates federation, of which Dubai is the
second-largest member, is leading the drive, building or
planning hotels worth about $12.7 billion, the organizers of a
hotel exhibition in Dubai said on Monday, citing data from
Dubai-based ProLeads.
Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain,
“are in the midst of a massive construction boom,” Maggie
Moore, exhibition director of the Hotel Show 2008, is quoted as
saying in a statement.
At 6,500 rooms, Dubai’s $1.63 billion Asia-Asia Hotel will
overtake Las Vegas’s MGM Grand as the world’s largest hotel,
DMG Media, the organizers of the show, said in the statement.
Abu Dhabi investment agency Mubadala Development Co is
developing the region’s most expensive hotel, the MGM Grand
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The Ultimate in Luxurious TravelHotel complex Abu Dhabi, at a cost of $3 billion, DMG said.
About 100 hotels will open in the UAE by the end of 2010,
adding 30,000 rooms, DMG said.
Dubai World said in August it will invest up to $5.2
billion in MGM Mirage by buying shares and half of a
Las Vegas project, making the state-owned investment firm a
player in the biggest gambling destination in the United
States.
