Dubai is considered as one of the fastest growing city in the world. The World Bank reckons that Dubai has the most influential business center in the modern world today because it sits on a strategic route-way that connects to China, India, Middle East, Europe and the US.
Historically, Dubai was built on the oil industry, but stats show that revenues from oil and natural gas currently account for less than 6% of it’s economy. It’s main revenues actually comes from tourism, real estate, financial services, and logistics. Dubai’s GDP as of 2008 was US$ 82.11 billion.
The city is under constant construction with approximately $100bn worth of construction projects currently underway. It is believed that 15-25% of all the world’s cranes are currently located in Dubai. There were roughly only 40 hotels in Dubai only a decade ago. Today, there are more than 260 hotels and one of which is a famous seven-star hotel called the Burj Al Arab. Dubai is also home to the tallest building in the world which was built earlier this year.
So just how fast is Dubai growing anyway? Within a span of a decade Dubai has transformed itself from a sandy desert to a metropolitan twice the size of Hong Kong. Take a look at the changes in Dubai’s architecture below and judge for yourself.
This is what Dubai looks like in 1990.
Dubai in 2003.
This is the same street in 2009.
And this is what Dubai looks like today. Shocking isn’t it?
