Khaleej Times

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced that the Dubai Metro, comprising the Red and Green lines, has posted high ridership rates last April, clocking 13,879,636 passengers, which compares well with the ridership recorded during the same period last year amounting to 11,298,414 riders.

Visitors to the observatory deck, located on Level 124 of Emaar Properties’ global icon Burj Khalifa, increased 13 per cent in 2013, up from 1.66 million visitors the previous year.

Hotels in Dubai reported the highest profit levels in the region in 2013 for the fourth consecutive year, and ended the year with occupancy above 80 per cent as rates surged, according to the latest HotStats survey of full service four and five star hotels in five Mena markets by TRI Hospitality Consulting Middle East.

Dubai’s hospitality market has rapidly absorbed this influx of new supply and continued to perform exceptionally well, as RevPAR has only declined by 0.3 per cent, according to Ernst & Young’s Middle East Hotel Benchmark survey.

In the lead up to the hour of darkness, more than 1,000 votive candles showing “Earth 60+ Dubai 2013” lit up the Burj Plaza floor. Splashy and Sparky, cartoonesque mascots, regaled the hundreds of children present at the event with their families.

The new city will be located between Emirates Road, Al Khail Road and Shaikh Zayed Road, and will include the Mohammed bin Rashid Gardens project. It will be connected to Downtown Dubai and Business Bay through a crossing that will be named the “Cultural Crossing” which will include art galleries and create the largest area for arts in the region.

Dubai’s buoyant hotel industry sustained its upturn in the first six months of 2012 with a 10 per cent surge in hotel guests compared to the corresponding period in 2011. Dubai’s hotels and hotel apartments played hosts to 5,027,223 guests in the first half of this year, the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing in Dubai has said.

The world’s tallest hotel, JW Marriott Marquis, is expected to open its doors to guests in December this year. Dubai is home to the world’s top three tallest structures — the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa; the world’s tallest residential building, Princes Tower; and, soon, the world’s tallest hotel, JW Marriott Marquis.

A new mosque covering an area of 40,000 square feet is being built in Downtown Dubai, near The Old Town development. The mosque will be set in an immaculately landscaped area that will complement the design elegance of The Old Town. The mosque will be designed to reflect the rich traditional architectural heritage while serving as a haven of peace and serenity and is set to become a modern day cultural landmark for Dubai.

Emaar Hospitality Group, the hospitality and leisure subsidiary of global property developer Emaar Properties, has acquired the management of Al Manzil and Qamardeen hotels, two key hospitality assets of Emaar, located in Downtown Dubai. The two hotels were earlier managed by Southern Sun Hotel Group.