40-year-old cruise QE2 sails to Dubai to become floating hotel

Dubai: Queen Elizabeth II, the United Kingdom's luxury liner, has set on its final voyage to become a floating hotel off the Gulf Emirate's island.

The farewell ceremonies for the 70,000-tonne liner was led by the Duke of Edinburgh. The cruise will reach Dubai on November 26 and be handed over to Nakheel, a firm that is part of the Dubai World Company, creator of the world's largest manmade island Palm Jumeirah.

After refurbishment over the next few months, QE2 will dock permanently at a specially constructed berth on the island.

The ship which was launched by the Queen from the Clyde in 1967 has travelled 5.5 million miles carrying more than 2.5 million passengers. It was a hospital ship during the 1982 Falklands war.

Source - The Economic Times

Dubai Mall visitors hit 60,000

The Dubai Mall has recorded a visitor turn-out of more than 60,000 tickets sold for the Dubai Aquarium & Discovery Centre in the first five days, follwing its opening. The Dubai Aquarium featuring the world's largest acrylic viewing panel offers free attraction while the walk-through tunnel and Discovery Centre assures closer appreciation of the aquatic world. The three distinctive themes at the Discovery Centre, Rainforest, Rocky Shore and Living Ocean, are a special draw among children, who also have the opportunity to touch-and-feel several aquatic species.

Source - AME Info

Dubai Adventure, From Sky To Sand To Snow

Even though the global economic crunch is starting to make itself felt in the super-wealthy Arab emirate on the Persian Gulf, Dubai is getting bigger, as construction of huge islands there goes on.

Seen from the air, manmade land masses resulting from the building boom are taking the shape of a mammoth palm tree, as Early Show viewers saw vividly Friday.

Futuristic, mega-skyscrapers already up and going up are also sources of amazement.

Co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez provided looks at many facets of Dubai -- including an aerial tour -- as the show continued its series, "Destination Unknown." Our on-air personalities show up for work each day with their bags packed, ready to be sent to they-know-not-where as they depart. Julie Chen went to Paris and Russ Mitchell to Athens.

Maggie started her journey Thursday.

"This once-sleepy desert town is now known for its opulent, constantly-topping-itself architecture," Rodriguez observed on the show, From Dubai, Friday. "It's known for golf, beaches, everything under the sun." Even an indoor ski slope in a giant mall. And oh -- that shopping!

"It's a desert here, and it feels like one," Rodriguez continued. " ... It is 88 degrees, but just 17 floors below me ... it is 25 degrees" at the ski slope.

Rodriguez showed views from a helicopter of the "palm tree" below and its sister community that, when finished, will consist of more than 300 islands two-and-a-half miles out in the Gulf, forming the shape of all the world's continents. "Dozens of massive dredgers are scraping hundreds of millions of tons of silt, sand, coral, rock and sea grass," she said, as Early Show cameras recorded the machines at work. "The islands are 50 feet deep and rise 12 feet above sea level. Thirty-four million tons of boulders are being packed into the islands' edges to stop erosion and act as a reef. When finished, the palm and the world will increase Dubai's beachfront from 20 miles to 400 miles. On the islands, it'll be shops and more shops.

Source - The Early Show

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Dubai Travel Guide - A Guide to the City of Contrasts

Dubai Travel Guide takes you to the exciting city of Dubai, one of the seven emirates of UAE, located in the Persian Gulf. This welcoming and prosperous city is increasingly becoming well known worldwide amongst tourists. The Dubai Culture is one of the important things that lure people to this lovely place.

Of late, this city has emerged as a dream destination for leisure and business travelers across the globe with different Dubai Attractions. The city is also popularly known as city of Gold because of its open gold markets.

Dubai is known as the shopping capital of UAE. In fact, shopping is one of the favorite pass times for people in Dubai and for travelers alike. Guests here can experience the magic of glitzy Dubai malls known for their international brands. Dubai Shopping Festival, held in the month of March, is a very popular festival among people from all over the world. The major highlights of this festival include discounts, Raffles, prize draws, cultural events, street entertainers, spectacular fireworks displays and so on. Another festival celebrated in Sharjah is the Ramadan Shopping Festival.

Besides, other Dubai Attractions include rocking nightlife, numerous shops and markets, entertainment and amusement parks, gardens and lot many other recreational activities.

Tourism is one of the backbones of Dubai and the state generates large amount of revenue from this sector. A Dubai Travel Guide is incomplete with visiting some of the fascinating places in Dubai including Dubai Museum, Jumeirah Mosque, Shindagha District, Bastakiya District, and Al Ahmadiya School in Old Dubai. Similarly, places that can not be missed out in New Dubai include Burj al-Arab hotel, Burj Dubai, Palm Islands and so on.

Other interesting things that the Dubai Map features include Beaches and sea, Desert Safari or Dune Bashing, Skiing, Dubai Creek Cruise, Golfing, Hot Air Ballooning and so on. With the availability of Business Class Air Tickets, a smooth trip to Dubai is increasingly becoming easy.

Dubai is the most populous emirate of UAE and one of the most cosmopolitan cities of the world. It is a place of harmonious existence of tradition and modernity. Dubai Travel Guide also features some mesmerizing sky scrappers that attract the attention of the travelers.

Dubai is truly believed to be the ideal place to be in and enjoy. Dubai Travel Guide offers travel packages and other facilities to different tourist destinations for rich as well as budget travelers alike. For accommodation, Dubai has a great number of options for affluent and budget people. Along with luxury resorts and 5-star hotels, Dubai also offers numerous budget hotels lodges for accommodation.

These days, there are many different tour and travel agencies, which offer great service including Business Class Air Tickets, accommodation, sightseeing, food etc. at discounted rates for travelers. With these services around, one can simply go ahead and have a wonderful vacation in the city. Dubai Travel Guide is easily available for tourists who can avail its facilities at low cost and have an unforgettable experience of a lifetime.

Source - http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Fedrerer

Dubai receives tourism accolades

Recent improvements to Dubai's tourism services were recognised at an event in London last week.

At the World Travel Awards Middle East Ceremony on October 28th, the emirate's development into a major international destination was praised by industry members.

President of the World Travel Awards Graham Cooke described Dubai as "a constant signal to everyone in the industry of how bold vision and innovation, investment and positive responses can make a difference - despite global economic fears".

With Dubai International Airport receiving the award for the Middle East's leading airport, the emirate also picked up awards for leading conference centre, leading hotel and leading resort.

However, Dubai was not the only Middle East location to gain recognition, with Abu Dhabi also among the awards.

"It was wonderful to reward the best from exceptionally high-quality nominations," Mr Cooke said.

Last week, the BBC reported that property investors in Dubai are still doing "brisk business" despite the economic downturn.

Source - Ready 2 Invest

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Dubai Mall opens with largest number of retailers in the world’s largest-ever mall opening

The Dubai Mall, opened yesterday (November 4, 2008) at 2pm with close to 600 retailers opening their doors for business – marking the world’s largest-ever single-day mall opening in retail history.

Emaar Malls Group, the developer of The Dubai Mall marks the opening with a series of high profile events, beginning with a public unveiling of the highly anticipated Dubai Aquarium & Discovery Centre at 4pm, today. The festive vibe will resonate throughout the mall with fashion shows taking place in the Fashion Catwalk, public skating at Dubai Ice Rink and high profile exhibits, galleries and performers providing entertainment for the entire family.

Besides its retail attractions including the Middle East debut of several global, high-profile brands such as Waitrose and Hamleys, The Dubai Mall has varied lifestyle and leisure offerings including a sprawling Gold Souk, the Olympic-sized Dubai Ice Rink and the multimedia-rich Fashion Catwalk atrium. The Dubai Aquarium & Discovery Centre is already in the global spotlight having clinched the Guinness World Record for the ‘World’s Largest Acrylic Panel.’

The Dubai Mall is centrally located in the Downtown Burj Dubai development – ‘the new heart of the city’ – just off Interchange One on Sheikh Zayed Road. Visitors can reach The Dubai Mall via multiple access roads from Sheikh Zayed Road, Financial Centre Road (previously called Doha Road), Emaar Boulevard, Downtown Burj Dubai, the newly opened bridge off Interchange One and through a direct access road near Emaar Square off Sheikh Zayed Road. The Dubai Mall will have a total of over 14,000 spaces for parking across three car parks, with valet services and a car locator ticketing system.

Sprawling over 12 million sq ft - equivalent in size to more than 50 soccer pitches – with an internal floor area of 5.9 million sq ft and a gross leasable area of 3.77 million sq ft, The Dubai Mall is the flagship development of Emaar Malls Group, the shopping malls subsidiary of global property developer Emaar Properties.

When fully operational, The Dubai Mall will have over 1,200 stores of which nearly 165 retailers – equaling 1.1 million sq ft, or 30% of the total gross leasable area of the mall - are either new to the region, or opening standalone or flagship stores for the very first time in Dubai. The retail mix includes two anchor department stores – Galeries Lafayette and Bloomingdale’s, both opening their first store in the Middle East at The Dubai Mall; 220 gold & jewellery outlets; 160 food & beverage outlets including Dubai’s largest food court with 40 outlets; a supermarket and an organic food mart.

Source - Al Bawaba