DUBAI

Dubai   is a city-state in the United Arab Emirates, located within the emirate of the same name. The emirate of Dubai is located southeast of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and is one of the seven emirates that make up the country. It has the largest population in the UAE   and the second-largest land territory by area   after Abu Dhabi. Dubai  and Abu Dhabi, the national capital.  The city of Dubai is located on the emirate's northern coastline and heads up the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area . 

 Today, Dubai has emerged as a cosmopolitan metropolis that has grown steadily to become a global city and a business and cultural hub of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region.  Although Dubai's economy was historically built on the oil industry, the emirate's Western-style model of business drives its economy with the main revenues now coming from tourism, real estate, and financial services.  Dubai has recently attracted world attention through many innovative large construction projects and sports events. The city has become symbolic for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, such as the world's tallest Burj Khalifa, in addition to ambitious development projects including man-made islands, hotels, and some of the largest shopping malls in the region and the world. This increased attention has also highlighted labor and human rights issues concerning the city's largely South Asian paid workforce.  Dubai's property market experienced a major deterioration in 2008–2009 as a result of the worldwide economic downturn following the financial crisis of 2007-2008.  However, Dubai has made a steady and gradual recovery with help coming from neighboring emirates. 

 Tourism is an important part of the Dubai government's strategy to maintain the flow of foreign cash into the emirate. Dubai's lure for tourists is based mainly on shopping, but also on its possession of other ancient and modern attractions. As of 2010, Dubai was the 7th most visited city of the world with 7.6 million visitors a year.  Dubai is expected to accommodate over 15 million tourists by 2015. Dubai is the most populous emirate of the seven emirates of United Arab Emirates. It is distinct from other members of the UAE in that a large part of the emirate's revenues are from tourism. 

Dubai has been called the "shopping capital of the Middle East".  Dubai alone has more than 70 shopping malls, including the world's largest shopping mall, Dubai Mall. The city draws large numbers of shopping tourists from countries within the region and from as far as Eastern Europe, Africa and the Indian Subcontinent. While boutiques, some electronics shops, department stores and supermarkets operate on a fixed-price basis, most other outlets consider friendly negotiation a way of life. 

 Many boutiques and jewellery stores are also found in the city. Dubai is known as "the City of Gold" and Gold Souk in Deira houses nearly 250 gold retail shops. Dubai Duty Free Company at the Dubai International Airport offers merchandise catering to the multinational passengers using the airport.

ATTRACTIONS OF DUBAI

The Wild Wadi Water Park - is an outdoor water park in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Situated in the area of Jumeirah, next to the Burj Al Arab and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, the water park is operated by Jumeirah International, a Dubai-based hotelier.

Wild Wadi has a heated/cooled wave pool, multiple water slides and two artificial surfing machines. In addition, the park had the largest water slide outside of North America, but recently it was removed to make space for two other rides . Another feature of the park is an 18 m (59 ft) waterfall that goes off every ten minutes. The water park also has two gift shops, three restaurants and two snack stands.

Dubai Gold Souk - Dubai has been long known as the City of Gold for good reason, despite the fact that majority of its gold is imported from Asia and neighbouring countries.Gold in Dubai is the cheapest in the world. Add to this Dubai's special tax-free shopping status.

The Dubai Gold Souk is a traditional market located at the core of commercial business district in Deira, eastern Dubai. The souk accommodates more than 300 retailers exclusively trading in jewelry. Among the retailers are both the well-established stores like Damas, Joy Alukkas Jewlry and ARY Jewelry, and also smaller stores that operate exclusively. Approximately 25 tonnes of gold are displayed in the windows of more than 600 shops at any given time.

There are two gold markets in Dubai, the Old Gold Souk and the new one. Both are in the same locality and located close to each other and have similar offerings. The New Dubai Gold Souk is a two-storey building, while the old one is an area scattered with jewelry shops. To get a flavour of the old city, first-time visitors are encouraged to visit the Old Gold Souk before visiting the New Gold Souk.

The Global Village - which opened its doors to celebrate "Eid in Dubai" with a range of entertainment shows, fun rides, world cuisines and shopping, is the largest seasonal cultural shopping and entertainment theme park in the region, where an amazing array of festivals are lined up and the world comes together for celebration.

Located on the Emirates Road highway, Global Village, Dubai’s most popular cultural and entertainment venue is a mere 20 minutes drive from Dubai International Airport, and is 60 minutes away from Abu Dhabi. Although, Global Village Dubai is associated with Dubai Shopping Festival.

Deira Clocktower -originally referred to as the Dubai Clocktower, is a roundabout in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Clocktower is located in eastern Dubai in Deira, at the intersection of Umm Hurrair Road and route D 89 (Al Maktoum Road). Situated in the locality of Al Rigga, the Deira Clocktower, now a prominent monument in Deira, provides access to the Al Maktoum Bridge, the first land crossing constructed between Deira and Bur Dubai.

Dubai Clocktower was designed by Engineer Edgar Bublik General Manager of Overseas AST and constructed by an unknown local builder around 1964. However, by 1972, the monument had started to crack and corrode the steel reinforcements, as a result of the unwashed beach sand used for the concrete. The Clocktower was refurbished in 1972 by Overseas AST.  

Dubai's Clocktower is located in Deira but was not called Deira Clocktower.The Clocktower was erected as a symbol of Dubai and located in Deira because that was where major routes into Dubai converged prior to the building of Dubai - Abu Dhabi Road.

Jumeirah Beach - has a number of luxury hotels on its beach front. The most prominent is the world famous Burj Al Arab hotel, which sits offshore on a manmade island and the architecture of which has become an iconic symbol of Dubai. On the coast of Dubai next to the Burj Al Arab is the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, a hotel that is part of the Jumeirah hotel chain. The Madinat Jumeirah, or "Jumeirah City," consists of three luxurious five-star hotels (Mina A'Salam, Al Qasr and Dar Al Masyaf), which include residences, a shopping mall, and a pier that extends into the Persian Gulf and which contains restaurants.

Ski Dubai - is an indoor ski resort with 22,500 square meters of indoor ski area. It is a part of the Mall of the Emirates, one of the largest shopping malls in the world, located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was developed by Majid Al Futtaim Properties, which also operates the Mall of the Emirates.

Opened in November 2005, the indoor resort features an 85-meter-high indoor mountain with 5 slopes of varying steepness and difficulty, including a 400-metre-long run, the world's first indoor black run, and various features (boxes, rails, kickers) that are changed on a regular basis. A quad lift and a tow lift carry skiers and snowboarders up the mountain. Adjoining the slopes is a 3,000-square-metre Snow Park play area comprising sled and toboggan runs, an icy body slide, climbing towers, giant snowballs and an ice cave. Ski Dubai is also home to a number of penguins who come out to play several times a day. Penguin encounters can be booked, allowing the public to interact directly with the penguins. Winter clothing, ski and snowboard equipment are included in the price of admission. 

An extremely efficient insulation system helps the facility maintain a temperature of −1 °C during the day and −6 °C at night when the snow is produced.

The Dubai Mall  - is the world's largest shopping mall based on total area and sixth largest by gross leasable area. Located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, it is part of the 20-billion-dollar Burj Khalifa complex, and includes 1,200 shops.  Access to the mall is provided via Doha Street, rebuilt as a double-decker road in April 2009. 

Twice delayed, Dubai Mall opened on 4 November 2008, with about 635 retailers, marking the world's largest-ever mall opening in retail history.  

 It also has a 250-room luxury hotel, 22 cinema screens plus 120 restaurants and cafes. The Mall has over 14,000 parking spaces across 3 car parks, with valet services and a car locator ticketing system.    The Dubai Mall contains more than 1,200 shops 

The Burj Al Arab -   has been called a 7 star luxury hotel. It is located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and managed by the Jumeirah Group and built by Said Khalil. Its construction started in 1994 and ended in 1999. It was designed by Tom Wright of WS Atkins PLC. The hotel cost $650,000,000 to build. At  321 metres. Burj Al Arab characterizes itself as the world's only "7-star" property, a designation considered by travel professionals to be hyperbole. All major travel guides and hotel rating systems have a 5-star maximum, which some hotels attempt to out-do by ascribing themselves "6-star" status. Yet according to the Burj Al Arab's official site, the hotel is a "5-star deluxe hotel".The Burj Al Arab was built to resemble the sail of a Dhow, a type of Arabian vessel. Near the top of the building is a suspended helipad supported by a cantilever which has featured some of the hotel's notable publicity events. One of its restaurants, Al Muntaha, is located 200 metres above the Persian Gulf, offering a view of Dubai. Another restaurant, the Al Mahara, which is accessed by a simulated submarine voyage, features a large seawater aquarium. It is one of the most expensive hotels in the world.

 Burj Khalifa  , known as Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is the tallest man-made structure in the world, at 829.8 m  

Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010.  The tower's architecture and engineering were performed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill of Chicago, with Adrian Smith as chief architect, and Bill Baker as chief structural engineer  The primary contractor was Samsung C&T of South Korea. With Dubai mired in debt from its huge ambitions, the government was forced to seek multibillion dollar bailouts from its oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi. Subsequently, in a surprise move at its opening ceremony, the tower was renamed Burj Khalifa, said to honour the UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his crucial support 

The Palm Islands - are an artificial archipelago (islands) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Major commercial and residential infrastructures   constructed by Nakheel Properties, a property developer in The UAE. The Belgian and Dutch dredging and marine contractors , were hired to complete construction. The islands are the Palm Jumeirah, the Palm Jebel Ali and the Palm Deira. Each settlement   in the shape of a palm tree, topped with a crescent. The settlements will have a large number of residential, leisure and entertainment centers. The Palm Islands are located off the coast of The UAE in the Persian Gulf and  add 520 kilometers of beaches to the city of Dubai. The first two islands  comprise of approximately 100 million cubic meters of rock and sand. The Palm Deira  composed of approximately one billion cubic meters of rock and sand.   Among the three islands, there will be over 100 luxury hotels, exclusive residential beach side villas and apartments, marinas, water theme parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports facilities and health spas.

 The creation of the Palm Jumeirah began in June 2001.   Before the impact of the global credit crunch hit Dubai, construction was originally planned to take 10-15 years.Two other artificial archipelagos, The World and The Universe, are located between the Palm Islands.