“ It is up to us to write history and to steadily get closer to the future, without waiting for the future to come to us”: this prophecy of Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum has become a reality. A little over forty centuries after the Pyramids were built, Dubai is a vast worksite for projects that are each more pharaonic than the last. In 2010, the new face of Dubai will be revealed: futurist and in excess. The emirate will then become a major destination for individual and leisure tourism and will confirm its growing position on the incentives market. But these projects that are well on their way have another goal as well: to provide lodgings for a rapidly growing population of expatriates, the key to the country’s economic development.Last but not least, this is the Emirate’s biggest project: an enormous park on a 7.4 million square kilometre area: the same size as the current city. Rivalling with Disneyland Orlando, Dubailand will offer several theme parks: Arabian World, Adventure World, Snow World, Space World, Aqua World, Eco-tourism World, Dinosaur World… the emphasis will be on sport, a vector for promotion worldwide. The Dubai’s goal is to become the sports capital of the Middle East. Today, it already hosts several major events: tennis and golf tournaments, rugby matches, a rally, a bicycle race and the richest horse race in the world: the Dubai World Cup. Sport World will further the city’s possibilities with, among other things, a 25,000-seat stadium. Also on the programme is a Formula 1 racecourse at Motor World. Dubailand’s goal: 200,000 visitors daily. Enough to provide fine perspectives for hotel development.The Palm Islands: The Eighth wonder of the world, according to Dubai’s authorities. The city will increase its limited shoreline through an astonishing feat: the construction of...