Landmark To Launch 10 Shariah-Compliant Hotels By 2010

Landmark Hotel Management LLC has announced that it will be launching 10 world-class Shariah-compliant hotels and serviced apartments in the UAE and KSA by the end of 2010. The move is in line with the company's strategy to cater to the increasing demand for Shariah-compliant projects in the Middle East.

Six of the ten upcoming projects will be launched in Dubai, two in Abu Dhabi, a four-star hotel in Fujairah and one hotel in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. All the projects will operate on Islamic principles, which means that they are alcohol-free, serve halal food, and provide a percentage of their profit to charity.

S.M. Sadique, Managing Director of Landmark Hotel Group, highlighted that Landmark Hotel Management is keen on increasing the mass appeal of Shariah-compliant hotels. 'Presently, the general perception is that Shariah-compliant hotels are only meant for Muslims; which is certainly not the case. There are several non-Muslims, especially with families, who thoroughly enjoy the quieter and cleaner ambiance offered in Shariah-compliant hotels. Through our forthcoming projects we are determined to broaden the appeal of Shariah-compliant hotels across the Middle East.'

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Landmark Hotel Group to launch ten Shariah-compliant hotels by 2010 (Emirates News Agency)

Places of natural beauty trashed

The National:

Fujairah wadis choking on waste
...
Sandra Knuteson, the assistant professor of environmental science at the American University of Sharjah, collected and measured rubbish – including plastic bottles, glass, aluminium cans, paper, food wrapping and nappies – discarded at two popular wadis in Fujairah and Hatta.
...
The scientist started her project in December, when she decided to estimate the impact of the National Day weekend on Hatta Pools. She cleaned up an area 300 metres long and 100 metres wide around the wadi a week before the long weekend, removing 183kg of rubbish from the site.

However, the following Monday, another 81kg of waste had appeared. Two-thirds of the rubbish was plastic and broken glass. The rest was aluminium cans, crisp wrappers, toys, nappies, styrofoam containers, cigarette butts, food and paper.

A similar method was used at Wadi Wuraya, a picturesque waterfall in the mountains of Fujairah. The project was carried out with volunteers from HSBC and the Emirates Wildlife Society – World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), which is working with the Fujairah Government to have the wadi declared a protected area.

On March 8, the volunteers removed 115.9kg of rubbish from a 0.05 square kilometre area. Two weeks later, 42kg was collected. Ms Knuteson believed the amount could have been substantially larger if a municipality clean-up had not been carried out during the two weeks.

Glass made up 47 per cent of the litter and some of the bottles were broken, putting the public’s safety at risk. There were also plastic, soft drink cans, cigarette lighters and batteries.

“The batteries are a danger to water quality,” said Ms Knuteson, adding that the acids contained in them can leak into the soil, reaching groundwater supplies.

Apart from being unsightly, litter is a threat to the well-being of animals.

"Dubai is the sizzle. Abu Dhabi is the steak."

Interesting travel article, originally from the Chicago Tribune, describing Abu Dhabi to would be American tourists:

If Dubai and Abu Dhabi were `50s film idols, Dubai would be Marilyn Monroe. Abu Dhabi would be Grace Kelly.

Dubai is the sizzle. Abu Dhabi is the steak. [brn - first thought when I read this: "Zing! Take that Dubai!"]

Dubai is the commercial hub of the United Arab Emirates that gets all the attention. Some 60 miles away, the nation's political capital of Abu Dhabi has gone largely overlooked. But Abu Dhabi doesn't have to stand for that anymore, and it isn't going to.

And, just to pick up on Proud Emirati's post about tourists behaving badly, it gives helpful info about how to dress (nothing about not kissing though):

Dress code is on the side of modesty. Women should wear blouses with sleeves, calf-length pants or skirts (but no slits), and avoid exposing cleavage and midriff. There's no need to wear a scarf. Men should wear shirts with sleeves and long pants.

This won't help Brand Dubai

In the Travel section of the UK's Guardian newspaper there's a report on Dubai - but not one the people who brought Leo Hickman, the writer, here will thank him for. He says he was a guest of Burj Al Arab.


There's the usual beautiful photograph of the hotel...but it's under the headline "Sun, sand and slavery."


About half the report talks about Dubailand, the offshore developments and the hotel, the rest is on his visit to our largest labour camp and how the labourers live, plus a condemnation of tourism operators generally.



The story is here.

Frugal Dubai :: New York Times

Quote:

Shakespeare and Company’s stood out — because it was cheap. My friend Samira Mesbahi, a curly-haired actress from Paris, and I had spent just 113.12 dirhams, or $30.82 at a fixed exchange rate of 3.67 dirhams to the dollar.
The typical Dubai brunch, by contrast, is an affair of ritualistic excess, held in the restaurant of a five-star hotel, with an all-you-can-eat buffet of gravlax, coddled eggs, a foie gras bar, and tuna belly sliced by an eighth-generation sushi chef from Osaka.
...
Searching the Web, I found a fabulous deal: Villa 08. Owned by a pair of European expatriates, the three-bedroom house is in Arabian Ranches, a gated community on the distant southern edge of Dubai. On one side of the fence are swimming pools, a supermarket, a country club and rows of nearly identical villas in the style of Arabian forts. On the other side, the vast desert and burgeoning dust storm.

Villa 08’s cheapest room was $60 a night, but since there were no other guests, I was given the master suite and the run of the house.
...
What I wanted from Dubai was not preconceived amusements but the accidental by-products of globalization — like Club Africana, or the happy clash of cultures at a house party. Not only were they cheaper, they felt more truly Dubai than the multimillion-dollar attractions, and I counted myself fortunate my low budget had driven me to seek them out.

Bad zoo news

I'm told Dubai zoo's move has been canned yet again.

This really is unacceptable - the zoo is an embarrassment, a blot on Dubai's name, an absolute disgrace in this day and age. It's particularly appalling given the billions of dollars being invested in the emirate.

Can you imagine horses or camels being imprisoned in the way the animals at the zoo are cramped into tiny, unsuitable space? Of course not. So how can it be acceptable for other animals?

I don't understand how the municipality can let this continue. It's not only damaging Dubai's reputation, it's a missed commercial opportunity - not something of which the authorities are often guilty. A good, modern zoological garden is a tourist attraction, a money-making enterprise.

It's another urgent problem that needs Sheikh Mohammed's attention.

More on the Abu Dhabi Louvre :: NYT

Flic posted yesterday on the Louvre coming to Abu Dhabi.

Here are some excerpts from the New York Times report:

What’s the price of a good name?How about a cool $520 million? That is the amount that Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, agreed Tuesday to pay to attach the Louvre’s name to a museum that it hopes to open in 2012. And there is more: in exchange for art loans, special exhibitions and management advice, Abu Dhabi will pay France an additional $747 million. Controversy over the Louvre Abu Dhabi has been swirling in France for the last three months, with critics charging that the French government is “selling” its museums. But only now have the full details of the nearly $1.3 billion package been disclosed.
...
Abu Dhabi has also agreed to make a direct donation of $32.5 million to the Louvre to refurbish a wing of the Pavillon de Flore for the display of international art.
This gallery, to be ready by 2010, will carry the name of Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan, the founder and longtime ruler of the United Arab Emirates, who died in 2004.
...
For a government-owned cultural institution in France to carry the name of a corporate or foreign donor is also a first and may well raise eyebrows here. In the past, for instance, the Louvre has turned down offers of financial help from philanthropists who asked that galleries be named after them in return.
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In a telephone interview from Abu Dhabi, Mubarak Al-Muhairi, the deputy chairman of the emirate’s tourism authority, dismissed rumors that the new museum would reject loans or exhibitions from France including Christian religious art or depicting, say, nudity. “In principle, there are no restrictions,” he said, “but both sides will agree on what is shown.”