About Dubai

• Cranes - Dubai has around 30,000 operating cranes and it is estimated there are a total of 150,000 cranes in the world, this means Dubai holds around 20% of the world’s cranes.
• Skyscrapers - At present, there are approximately 450 skyscrapers in Dubai alone. The tallest skyscraper in Dubai and the rest of the world is the Burj Khalifa at a total height of 828 metres (2716.5 feet).
• DID YOU KNOW: One in every 5 Dubai residents buy more than 5 pieces of gold jewelry per year? The majority of UAE gold sales are made from within the Gold Souk in Deira.
• Foreigners make up most of Dubai’s population! The local people, called Emiratis, are just 15% of the total!
• Dubai is apparently the fastest growing city in the world! In 1991, Dubai had just one tall building and it was at the edge of the edge of the desert. Now they have over 400 high rises!
• The Dubai Mall (where we spotted Lionel Richie a few days ago) is the largest shopping center in the world with over 1.200 stores. Many major American stores were among them, including Gymboree, Pottery Barn, Harley Davidson and a bunch of designers.
• The above ground metro station opened in Dubai 2009. It consists of 42 stations and was built in just 18 months. Yes, folks, they built an entire system is less than two years!
• When it opens, Dubai land will be twice the size of Disneyworld in Florida and is expected to be the largest tourist draw in the world, with 200,000 people daily. They have signed deals with Marvel Comics, Universal Studios and others.
• The most luxurious hotel in the world is in Dubai and it’s called the Burj Al Arab. It bills itself at a 7-star hotel and is building on a man-island just off the coast. You cannot enter the island without a reservation, so we only glimpsed the outside of the hotel.