| The Dubai Mall is the world's largest shopping mall based on total area and sixth largest by gross leasable area. Located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, it is part of the 20-billion-dollar Burj Khalifa complex, and includes 1200 shops. Access to the mall is provided via Doha Street, rebuilt as a double-decker road in April 2009. Twice delayed, Dubai Mall opened on November 4, 2008, with about 635 retailers, marking the world's largest-ever mall opening in retail history. However it is not the largest in gross leasable space, and is surpassed in that category by several malls including the South China Mall, which is the world's largest, Golden Resources Mall, SM City North Edsa, and SM Mall of Asia. The Dubai Mall has recorded a visitor turn-out of more than 60000 tickets sold for the Dubai Aquarium and Discovery Centre in the first five days, following its opening.[4] The Dubai Mall hosted over 37 million visitors in 2009, and attracts more than 750000 visitors every week. while in 2010 it hosted 47 million, and saw footfall increase by around 27 percent over 2009, despite the economic crisis. The mall was built by a joint venture of Dutco Balfour Beatty, Al Ghandi/CCC] and Turner Construction[citation needed] for Emaar Properties and was scheduled to be completed in 2006, claiming to be the size of 50 "international-sized football (soccer) pitches". Most of the workers used in construction of the mall were Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan guest workers. The ... |
