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 Downtown Dubai 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. However it is not the largest in gross leasable
space, and is surpassed in that category by several malls including the South
China Mall, which is the world's largest, Golden Resources Mall, SM City North
Edsa, and SM Mall of Asia.
The Dubai Mall recorded 60,000
tickets sold for the Dubai Aquarium and Discovery Centre in the first five days,
following its opening. The Dubai Mall hosted over 37 million visitors in 2009, and attracts more than 750,000 visitors every
week. while in 2010 it hosted 47 million, and saw footfall increase by around
27 percent over 2009, despite the economic crisis. In 2012, Dubai Mall
continued to hold title of world's most-visited shopping and leisure
destination, and attracted more than 65 million visitors, an increase of more
than 20 percent compared to the 54 million recorded in 2011. It attracted more
visitors than New York City with over 52 million tourists in 2012, and Los Angeles
with 41 million. The numbers also surpass visitor arrivals to all landmark
leisure destinations and theme parks in the world including Times Square (39.2
million), Central Park (38 million), and Niagara Falls (22.5 million).