Dubai is now officially the land of extreme building projects and, as a result of some of the unique and exciting attractions springing up in the area, tourism is growing fast. A bevy of luxurious and opulent hotels and some glorious beaches to match are making luxury holidays in Dubai extremely popular.
Much of Dubai's growth is attributable to its remarkable ruler, Sheikh Mohammed, who has overseen the development of many of the projects on this list. If you're planning a Dubai holiday, make sure to visit some of the amazing sites, buildings and luxury hotels in Dubai - there really is nothing else like them! Here is a countdown of the top ten.
10: Jebel Ali Port
Dubai's port, Jebel Ali, is the world's largest man-made harbour and the biggest port in the Middle East. The area is also home to 5,500 companies from 120 countries.
9: Dubai Airport
A colossal new airport called Dubai World Central International Airport is currently under construction. Many times larger than the Dubai International Airport, it is expected to be the busiest in the world, with a passenger capacity of more than 120 million - almost 30% more than Atlanta, currently the world's busiest passenger airport.
8: Palm Islands
The three Palm Islands, Palm Jumeirah, The Palm Jebel Ali and The Palm Deira, are the largest land reclamation project in the world and will result in the world's largest artificial islands and a major Dubai holiday attraction.
Each settlement will be the shape of a palm tree, and between the three islands will house over 100 of Dubai's luxury hotels, exclusive residential beach side villas and apartments, marinas, water theme parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports facilities and health spas. The Islands will add 520km of beaches to the city of Dubai and construction will be completed over the next 10-15 years.
7: Sports City
The Dubai Sports City is an entire sports city, about an hour's drive from the beach, consisting of apartment buildings and sports facilities. This Dubai holiday attraction's main sports structure is a 60,000 seat, multi-purpose outdoor stadium, to be used for athletics, football and rugby union. Other venues include a 25,000-seat cricket ground, a 10,000-seat indoor arena, a 5,000-seat field hockey stadium and an 18-hole golf course.
6: Dubai Towers
Dubai Towers is a stunning four tower complex in the shape four shining flames, intended to create a dramatic new landmark for Dubai holiday makers and to form the centrepiece of The Lagoons, a mega project which will consist of seven islands. The towers have between 57 to 94 stories and, although the heights are not known, it is believed the tallest will top 400 metres while two others will exceed 300 metres.
5: Dubailand
The soon-to-be-opened Dubailand will take the crown for theme park size. The development is expected to be a full featured city divided into six theme worlds. Developers hope to create a tourism, entertainment, and leisure destination that will attract Dubai holiday makers not only from surrounding countries but also from Europe and Asia.
4: Burj Al Arab
The Burj Al Arab is one of Dubai's luxury hotels and, at 321 metres, the tallest building used exclusively as a hotel. However, another luxury Dubai hotel, the Rose Tower, which has already topped Burj Al Arab's height, will take away its title upon its opening in April 2008.
The Burj Al Arab stands on an artificial island 280 metres out from the coast, and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. The gigantic luxury Dubai hotel is an iconic structure, designed to symbolize Dubai's urban transformation and to mimic the sail of a boat.
3: Burj Dubai
The Burj Dubai has been the world's tallest building since July, and when it is completed later this year its tower will reach a stomach-churning 800 metres plus. The 164-floor building will be occupied by September of 2009. The building will be used for many purposes and is expected to be a major attraction for Dubai holiday makers.
2: The World
The World is a man-made archipelago of 300 islands in the shape of a world map. This spectacular creation was completed in January this year and, like the other man-made islands in Dubai, was built primarily using sand dredged from the sea, and covers an area of 9 km long and 6 km wide. Rod Stewart is rumoured to have bought the ?Britain? island and Irish business consortium Larionovo plans to develop ?Ireland? into an Irish-themed, luxury Dubai holiday resort, including a recreation of Ireland's famous Giants Causeway.
1: The Universe
The Universe is going to be the next stage in the Gulf's surreal property programme, made by the same people as The World. A cluster of islands in the shape of the solar system, with the Sun, the Moon and a string of planets in between, The Universe will accommodate 300,000 people, including Dubai Holiday makers, and will take 15 to 20 years to build. The project, which was announced in January, is still in the planning stages.
1. Your project plan will change
The sooner as a project manager you learn to except that your project plan is not the declaration of independence but rather a living, breathing document open to misinterpretation and change the sooner you can get on with the important business of dealing with those miscommunications and changes.
2. If its not written down, it didn't happen
This works both ways. Things go wrong and when they do blame has to be dealt. Paper trails can be a useful way of passing the buck but they can also come back and bite you. You wrote the project plan- publish and be damned.
3. Over- runs happen
Over-runs happen. This is exponential. If your project is scheduled at a day, it will take 2. If its scheduled for 6 months it'll take a year. Ok this may be an exaggeration but the important thing is to make it clear from the outset that a timeline is a plan and when you do overrun remember, you're not the first, you won't be the last.
4. What a client doesn't know can't hurt them (but what a project manager doesn't know can only hurt them)
There will be times in your project where the whole picture may not be suitable for the client to see. Problems happen but a panicking client can compound them ten fold. Ask yourself, as a client what would you rather hear:
'The prototypes a mess, the lead engineer's eloped with the placement student and I've started drinking on my lunch hour'
Or
'We're ironing out some kinks in the prototype and are on schedule for next week when Dave's back from annual leave. I've got a lunch meeting and will be back in the office in 3 hours'
5. Your project management software tells you lies
Whether your project management software is a full bells and whistles package with voice activated Gantt Chart generation widgets or a beer mat and biro your project management software will lie to you because even NASA scientists can't quantify an equation which accounts accurately for incompetence, illness and IT.
6. You are essentially a human dartboard
You may be a skilled project management professional with years of multi-disciplinary experience but the sooner you realise that as project manager your role at least some of the time is to stand in the firing line and take the darts (and worse) that the client or project team fire at one another the sooner you're skin will become thick enough that you don't notice.
7. 60% of the time it works every time
If your project relies on technology in any shape or form, which it variably will whether you're building microchips or sending an email, at some point that technology is going to break or misfire and throw you off track. Because you're not going to get your project plan signed off with a 2 week buffer because 'the server melted' or 'the email got lost in the post' you're better off adding an extra week for 'testing'.
8. Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition
Fear and surprise are the two weapons which your stakeholders will use against you at some point in the life of the project. Whether it's a deadline which absolutely needs to be brought forward 2 weeks or a change request which there's categorically no budget for, the important thing is to realise that such requests will come when you least expect them and when they will cause maximum disruption.
9. There are not 8 hours in the day
OK so your average working week might not reflect this fact but the truth is the modern office environment is not conducive to maximum productivity levels from your project team.
10. Worrying won't get it done any faster
This might sound like a cliche from the pages of a self help book but its fair to say that time spent worrying is time which could be spent coming up with a solution or at least containing the flames.
Both Rosella Colella & John Mce are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Rosella Colella has sinced written about articles on various topics from Luxury Hotels, Travel and Leisure. Rosella Colella is a Dubai expert for key2holidays, an online tour operator specialising in , Australia, Cuba, the Caribbean, Europe, the. Rosella Colella's top article generates over 9900 views. to your Favourites.