The Gulf states are currently investing around $90 billion in hotel and tourism projects with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) accounting for 85 percent of the tourism developments in the Gulf region that are scheduled to be completed by 2018- an investment valued at AED 858 billion.
A statement on Sunday said that the UAE also ranks first in terms of the spaces allocated to these projects- around 558 million square feet, or 75 percent of the total area in the Gulf that has been allocated to real estate projects.
It said that the statistics reveal that AED 40 billion worth of real estate projects have been announced over the past two months alone.
This huge number of developments entails higher energy production and consumption rates-a fact that emphasises the need for evolving regulations that strike a balance between ecological integrity and economic necessity.