UAE

The United Arab Emirates, sometimes simply called the Emirates or the UAE is an Arab country in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf, bordering  Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south, as well as sharing sea borders with Qatar and Iran.

The UAE is a federation of seven emirates (equivalent to principalities), each governed by a hereditary emir, who choose one of their members to be the president of the federation. The constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. The capital is Abu Dhabi, which is also the state's center of political, industrial, and cultural activities. Islam is the official religion of the UAE, and Arabic is the official language.

Since 1962, when Abu Dhabi became the first of the emirates to begin exporting oil, the country's society and economy were transformed. The late Sheikh Zayed, ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of the UAE at its inception, oversaw the development of all the emirates and directed oil revenues into healthcare, education and the national infrastructure.

UAE oil reserves are ranked as the world's seventh-largest. It also possesses the world's seventeenth largest reserves natural gas resources  and it is one of the most developed economies in Western Asia. Per capita income is the world's seventh-highest.

Time in Dubai

Dubai's standard time zone is Coordinated Universal Time or Greenwich Mean Time which is four hours ahead of the United Kingdom. There is no daylight saving time and the time zone is the Gulf Standard Time. You can visit the sites timeanddate and also 24timezones for the current time in Dubai.

Dubai Mall

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).

Fly Dubai

Dubai International Airport (IATA: DXB), the hub for the Emirates Airline, serves the city of Dubai and other emirates in the country. The airport was the 15th busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic handling 40.9 million passengers in 2009. The airport was also the 2nd busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic. In addition to being an important passenger traffic hub, the airport is the 7th busiest cargo airport in world, handling 1.927 million tonnes of cargo in 2009, a 5.6% increase compared to 2008 and was also the 4th busiest International freight traffic airport in world. Emirates Airline is the national airline of Dubai. As of 2009, it operated internationally serving 101 destinations in 61 countries across six continents.

The development of Al Maktoum International Airport (IATA: DWC) was announced in 2004. The first phase of the airport, featuring one A380 capable runway, 64 remote stands, one cargo terminal with annual capacity for 250,000 tonnes of cargo and a passenger terminal building designed to accommodate five million passengers per year, has been opened. When completed, Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International will be the largest airport in the world with five runways, four terminal buildings and capacity for 160 million passengers and 12 million tons of cargo.

Atlantis Dubai

Atlantis, The Palm is a resort located on Dubai’s reclaimed artificial island Palm Jumeirah. It was the first resort to be built on the island and is based on the myth of Atlantis includes distinct Arabian elements. The resort opened on September 24, 2008 as a joint venture between Kerzner International Holdings Limited and Istithmar. The resort has two accommodation wings, also referred to as the Royal Towers, consisting of the East and the West Tower, both linked together by the Royal Bridge Suite. The resort’s comprises 1,500 guestrooms and suites with private balconies and views over The Palm and the Persian Gulf. The Imperial Club has over 150 rooms and suites with exclusive services and a private club lounge and views of the Arabian Sea or The Palm and Dubai skyline. The Royal Bridge Suite, spanning the Royal Towers, is 22 stories up with views of The Palm, Dubai and the Persian Gulf. The two Underwater Suites are each three stories high with views directly into the Ambassador Lagoon. The Atlantis is situated on Palm Jumeirah, part one of a trilogy including the larger Palm Islands: Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira, whose construction has been put on hold since 2008. Atlantis, The Palm, opened on 24 September 2008 as a joint venture between Kerzner International Holdings Limited and Istithmar. In April 2012, Istithmar acquired Kerzner’s 50 percent stake in the property for USD 250 million. The property continues to be managed by Kerzner International Resorts.

HHHR Tower in Dubai

HHHR Tower is a supertall skyscraper on Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The construction of the 72-floor, 317 m (1,040 ft) building started in 2006 and was completed in 2010. Designed by architect Al Hashemi, the building is residential, and its side usages are as commercial. HHHR tower is the second tallest residential building in Dubai, and fourth tallest residential building in the world, behind The Marina Torch, and Q1 tower which stands 348 m (1,142 ft) and 323 m (1,060 ft) respectively.

                                             

 

The tower comprises 454 residential apartments. The building was built by a joint venture between Al Ahmadiah Contracting and Trading Co., from the UAE and Hip Hing Construction Co. Ltd., from Hong Kong. Another hallmark project by this team is the Masdar Project in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Dubai Architecture

Dubai has a rich collection of buildings and structures of various architectural styles. Many modern interpretations of Islamic architecture can be found here, due to a boom in construction and architectural innovation in the Arab World in general, and in Dubai in particular, supported not only by top Arab or international architectural and engineering design firms such as Al Hashemi and Aedas, but also by top firms of New York and Chicago.

                                                      

As a result of this boom, modern Islamic – and world – architecture has literally been taken to new levels in skyscraper building design and technology. Dubai now boasts more completed or topped-out skyscrapers higher than 2/3 km, 1/3 km, or 1/4 km than any other city. A culmination point was reached in 2010 with the completion of the Burj Khalifa (Khalifa Tower), now by far the world's tallest building at 829.8 m (2,722 ft).

                                                   

 The Burj Khalifa's design is derived from the patterning systems embodied in Islamic architecture, with the triple-lobed footprint of the building based on an abstracted version of the desert flower hymenocallis which is native to the Dubai region. The completion of the Khalifa Tower, following the construction boom that began in the 1980s, accelerated in the 1990s, and took on a rapid pace of construction unparalled in modern human history during the decade of the 2000s, leaves Dubai with the world's tallest skyline as of 4 January 2010.

Hotels in Dubai

Dubai leads the ranking of the worlds highest hotel occupancy rate. In 2006 Dubai hotel occupancy rate was 86% which is highest ever in Dubai. In 1993, the city has 167 hotels with 9,383 rooms, while the number shot up to 272 hotels and doubled the number of rooms to 23,170 in 2002. In 2005 it increased to 28,999 rooms. In 2008 the hotel rooms jumped to 43,419 with 6,105,813 hotel guests with 70 percent occupancy rate. In 2009 the hotel rooms increased to 58,188 and in 2010 it jumped to 67,369 rooms an increase of 9,181 rooms in one year due to the massive rise in visitor arrivals. Dubai hosted a record 10 million visitors in 2012, an increase 9.3 % from last year. 

                                                

As of 2013, more than 32,686 hotel rooms has been planned, including 17,162 hotel rooms under construction. Whereas 30 new hotels opened in 2010.

In January, 2010 the occupancy rate takeoff at 81 percent, the second highest ever for Dubai, however throughout the year the occupancy rate was settled at 71 percent an increase of one percent from 2009. However, the city’s hotels witnessed a decline of 4.2 per cent in revenue per available room (RevPAR) reached $ 154 million in 2010. 

                                                        

Following are the figures according to The Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM):

•          Number of hotels in Dubai in September 2010 was 566, an increase of 7% from 530 in 2009.

•          In 2012, Hotel Revenues increased by 17.9% at AED 18.82 billion.

•          In 2012, Hotel Guests numbered to 9.96 million an increase of 9.5% compared with 9.1 million in 2011.

•          Hotel apartments occupancy rate increased from 67.2% in 2009 to 68.8% for 2010

The Emirates Office Tower

The Emirates Office Tower, also known as Emirates Tower One, is a 54-floor office building along Sheikh Zayed Road in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Connected with the 56-floor Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel by a retail boulevard, the two towers form what is commonly referred to as the Emirates Towers complex.

                                                         

 The tower has a total structural height of 354.6 m (1,163 ft) and roof height of 311 m (1,020 ft), making it the 23rd-tallest building in the world. The Emirates Office Tower One is taller than the neighboring Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel, but has two fewer floors. Construction of the building was completed in November 1999.

The Princess Tower

The Princess Tower is a 101 storey, 413 m (1,355 ft) tall residential skyscraper located in the Marina district of Dubai, UAE. Princess Tower is the world's tallest residential building since 2012.

The building comprises of 763 units, 957 underground parking bays (spread over six floors), and eight retail outlets.The building was completed and delivered by its developer, Tameer Holdings, in September 2012. 

                                                        

Princess Tower is one of the high profiled developments in Dubai Marina. Property listings of apartments in Princess Tower at Bayut.com indicate that these are one of the most expensive properties in Dubai and the most sought after ones as well.

Almas Tower

Almas Tower  is a supertall skyscraper in JLT Free Zone Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Construction of the office building began in early 2005 and was completed in 2009 with the installation of some remaining cladding panels at the top of the tower. The building topped out at 360 m (1,180 ft) in 2008, and became the tallest building in Dubai, until 2010, when it was surpassed by Burj Khalifa. Almas Tower has 74 floors, 70 of which are commercial alongside four service floors.

The tower is located on its own artificial island in the centre of the Jumeirah Lakes Towers Free Zone scheme, the tallest of all the buildings on the development. It was designed by Atkins Middle East, who designed most of the JLT Free Zone complex. The tower is was constructed by the Taisei Corporation of Japan in a joint venture with ACC (Arabian Construction Co.) who were awarded the contract by Nakheel Properties on 16 July 2005.

                                                    

The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), the developer of the tower, was the first to move in. The DMCC moved its corporate offices along with the Dubai Diamond Exchange to the unfinished tower on 15 November 2008. Almas Tower now houses facilities that provide a wide range of services for the region’s diamond, coloured gemstones and pearls industry. Along with the Dubai Diamond Exchange, these include the Dubai Gems Club, the Dubai Pearl Exchange, the Kimberley Process Certification offices and access to secure transportation agencies such as Brinks and Transguard, in addition to networking and meeting rooms.[4] Diamond cutting and exchange take place at the tower. Due to the type of transactions taking place at the tower, high security is installed. Almas tower ranked 8th in the Emporis Skyscraper Award 2010