BUSINESS & JOBS

Dubai World's total debt, including liabilities, is around 60 billion dollars. Dubai's total debt is estimated at between 80 and 100 billion dollars, although some analysts say it could be as high as 170 billion.

Global investors put their faith in Dubai's economy, making the emirate the first and most-preferred choice for future investments in the Middle East, according to an international survey released yesterday. And 81 per cent of those surveyed who have investments in Dubai plan to maintain or increase their investments in the next three years.

Residents have access to the amenities at the newly-opened Armani Hotel Dubai, including eight shops and a spa, as well as the Burj Khalifa’s four swimming pools, residents’ lounge, health and fitness facilities, and At.mosphere, a restaurant on Level 122.

Emaar Properties, the country’s largest developer, has started to send letters to owners of units in the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, warning that they will lose their apartments and 40 per cent of the property’s value if they fail to pay their overdue instalments within two weeks.

Emirates NBD, a leading bank in the region, announced that customers applying for personal or priority banking products or services at any of the four Emirates NBD branches in the Burj Khalifa area, will have several opportunities to win a ‘stay for two’ at the Jal Fujairah Resort and Spa, located on the east coast of the UAE.

With the Dubai Fountain and Burj Khalifa pulling in hundreds of tourists each day, Downtown has come into its own in the past year.

Emaar Hospitality Group, the hospitality & leisure subsidiary of global property developer Emaar Properties PJSC, won six awards at the World Travel Awards 2010 with Emaar Hospitality being voted as the ‘Middle East’s Leading Tourism Property Development Company,’ and The Address Hotels + Resorts winning awards for all its properties in Dubai.

Sitting in the majlis — formal Arab meeting room — of his hotel in the 2,700ft tall Burj Khalifa in downtown Dubai, Armani praised the “strong nerves” of Mohammed Alabbar, the boss of Emaar, the developer.

Back in the good old days, it was enough for a billionaire designer at the top of his or her game to own a super-yacht, a private island, a Manhattan penthouse, a Tuscan villa and a chalet in Gstaad.

The cheapest room, a 45-square-metre Armani Studio, costs $1,525 a night. The priciest, a 235-square-metre Armani Signature room, will cost you $4,900 a night, about $550 more than the most expensive suite at Dubai’s sail-shaped Burj Al Arab, the world’s first seven-star hotel.