2.1 billion people was the figure for people living between Europe and South East Asia (i.e North and Eastern Africa, the Levant, the Caspian, the Indian Subcontinent and the GCC States). China is of course a different story.
Giorgio Armani once said "Dubai is the new New York. It's the New York of the 21st century" (http://tinyurl.com/aqc63r). It turns out not to be as he thought, but for these 2.1 billion people, a cheap flight away from their cities, Dubai will always have its appeal.
While in the hindsight Dubai turned out to not make sense as a "global" city, it still might make sense for its vast "region".
I mean for the 2.1 billion living between Europe and South East Asia, (with a combined economy worth $1.8 trillion in terms of GDP, growing until recently at an annual rate of 5 per cent.) namely: North and Eastern Africa, the Levant, the Caspian, the Indian Subcontinent and the GCC States.
Dubai is not Las Vegas/Miami/New York, but for these 2.1 billion, a tuned-down version of these, even blended chaotically in a small city-state, would still completely make sense.
Giorgio Armani once said "Dubai is the new New York. It's the New York of the 21st century" (http://tinyurl.com/aqc63r). It turns out not to be as he thought, but for these 2.1 billion people, a cheap flight away from their cities, Dubai will always have its appeal.