Dubai extravagance not affected by global financial crisis

As the rest of the world seemed to be tightening its belt, Dubai was celebrating the opening of a new luxury hotel, throwing a party at a cost of $20 million on Thursday that attracted Hollywood celebrities such as Robert DeNiro and featured a fireworks extravaganza that event organizers said could be seen from outer space.

Entertainment headliner for the event was Australian pop star Kylie Minogue, making her Middle East debut. The celebration was held to launch Dubai’s new $1.5 billion resort built on an artificial, palm-shaped island off the Gulf coast.

It was reported that Minogue was paid $4 million for Thursday night’s performance that saw stars including Lindsay Lohan and Charlize Theron in the audience.

If this all seems to be a bit much when the world is struggling through the current financial crisis, the owner of the hotel, Kerzner International, does not agree.

Sol Kerzner, the chairman of Kerzner International, said to the Associated Press: “When you consider $20 million, it’s a lot of money (until) you consider it up against establishing a $1.5 billion resort.”

The $20 million cost of the event was shared by Kerzner International with state-owned Nakheel, the builder of Palm Island, where the Atlantis resort is located.

“If I had it all over again and I understood that the timing was what it was, one might modify a couple of the things … but not significantly,” added Kerzner, who had announced major layoffs of staff at the original Atlantis resort in the Bahamas last week.

Thanks to news.yahoo.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.atlantisthepalm.com