$29 billion Abu Dhabi complex goes ahead, but hotels may suffer

The royal family in Abu Dhabi has been keen to raise its profile as against Dubai, the purchase of Manchester City football club being the most obvious example of their self-promoting zeal.
And new resorts on the model of its neighbouring Emirates state won't be knocked off course either. The $29 billion luxury Saadiyat island complex is, amazingly, still going ahead despite the current economic downturn. The complex set to be complete with the usual - marinas and shops - plus the very unusual - a version of the Guggenheim museum designed, as is the one in Bilbao, by Frank Gehry.
A new Louvre art gallery will also be constructed on the island, which makes one think of the whole area as the real world on speed, a place that copies some famous attributes of other places but apparently without the economic woes that's affecting them.However, hotels and non-commercial projects are due for a review at least, according to Lee Tabler at least, chief executive of Abu Dhabi's Tourist Development & Investment because of the change in financial conditions. Finally, the current climate is affecting even this area of vast growth and extraordinary, plus sometimes bizarrre, ambition.

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