Beyoncé performs on stage headlining the Grand Reveal of Dubai’s newest luxury hotel, Atlantis The Royal on January 21, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — It was the talk of the town. Of the whole country, really — after which some.
Beyoncé was performing her first live concert in greater than 4 years at a personal event for the opening of Atlantis The Royal, a $1.4 billion luxury hotel and residential project eight years within the making, positioned on the outer ring of Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, a man-made beach archipelago within the Arabian Sea. The megastar was paid a reported $24 million for the night.
The concert, which took place over the weekend, was the grand finale event of the hotel’s “grand reveal,” whose 1,500 guests included model Kendall Jenner, rapper Jay-Z and a number of other influencers, socialites and royals.
The event, footage of which poured onto social media, showed off a number of the hotel’s larger-than-life features including a fireplace and water fountain that coordinated with a light-weight and fireworks show for the Beyoncé performance, eight latest celebrity chef restaurants, and a seemingly limitless variety of infinity pools.
The stats themselves are pretty jaw-dropping. The hotel, 43 storys of what appear like gigantic layered Jenga blocks, is home to 795 rooms and suites, 17 restaurants and bars and a whopping 92 swimming pools. Rooms go for a median rate of $1,000 per night, and Atlantis The Royal’s top-end suite costs an informal $100,000 per night. That is where Beyoncé reportedly stayed.
The 99-acre property built by luxury developed Kerzner International also hosts 231 ultra-luxury residences — all of which have already been sold.
Models pose through the Ivy Park show at Nobu by the Beach through the Grand Reveal Weekend for Atlantis The Royal, Dubai’s latest ultra-luxury hotel on January 22, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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“Following the gig, more fireworks than I’d ever seen filled the sky with explosions,” City AM’s Steve Dinneen wrote of the event. “This joyous, unabashed display of wealth is incredibly on brand for a city that prides itself on going greater and better than anyone has gone before.”
Atlantis The Royal’s launch is itself somewhat symbolic of Dubai’s meteoric economic recovery because the coronavirus pandemic and the emirate’s drive to grow to be one in every of the world’s top three destinations for tourism, luxury and business.
Already well-known for its often over-the-top opulence, glitzy skyscrapers and record-breaking creations —just like the world’s tallest constructing, largest Ferris wheel and largest mall — town that ballooned from a small fishing town right into a teeming metropolis in only the previous few a long time appears to be making a latest statement.
“Igniting the following chapter of the Atlantis legacy,” Atlantis Dubai wrote in an official tweet together with a promotional video of the opening fireworks.
Unlike the grand opening of Dubai’s first Atlantis luxury hotel, Atlantis the Palm, in 2008 — which preceded the worst financial crash Dubai has seen to this point — the UAE’s industrial and tourism capital appears to be confident that this time, economic growth is here to remain.
“Now we have ambitious growth targets for the sector over the following ten years,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the ruler of Dubai, said in an announcement after touring the property. “The UAE and Dubai seek to construct on their deep partnerships with the private sector to strengthen the country’s status because the world’s hottest destination for international tourists.”
“Our steadfast commitment to constructing an exceptionally secure and stable environment and a world-class infrastructure over the previous few a long time has created the foundations for a remarkable future,” he added.
Beyoncé performs on stage headlining the Grand Reveal of Dubai’s newest luxury hotel, Atlantis The Royal on January 21, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Kevin Mazur | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Indeed, economic analysts note a raft of recent reforms and regulations made to cut back risk and enable more people to work and live within the majority-expat city, including a distant employee visa, a “golden visa” for high-net price individuals, liberalizing social reforms and 100% business ownership for foreigners.
Karim Jetha, chief investment officer at Dubai-based asset management firm Longdean Capital, noted the parallels between the brand new Atlantis hotel’s launch and its sister hotel in 2008, whose opening preceded the economic crash.
“With an uncertain global economic outlook, possibility of recession and a buoyant property market, it’s natural to ask whether history is repeating itself with the opening of Atlantis The Royal,” he told CNBC.
But despite this, he said, “there are good reasons to imagine the economy is in a much stronger position this time.” He noted the oil-rich Gulf region’s windfall of upper hydrocarbon prices, and Dubai’s growth as a financial center.
“Dubai has seen a continued influx of rich expatriates in addition to digital nomads attracted by the standard of life and availability of visas,” Jetha said. “Dubai can also be growing in prominence as a financial services hub as underscored by several hedge funds opening up offices there.”
The swimming pool of a luxury villa on the market on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, on May 19, 2021.
GIUSEPPE CACACE | AFP via Getty Images
Luxury properties have been selling like hotcakes, aided by the deluge of rich Russians and residents of other ex-Soviet states moving to Dubai to evade the instability and Western sanctions brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The last 12 months registered a record 219 sales in homes classified as “ultra-prime,” or selling for $10 million and better, based on property firm Knight Frank. That is greater than the cumulative total recorded in the last decade between 2010 and 2020.
“The performance at the highest of the market clearly demonstrates the arrival of Dubai as a luxury hub to rival long established markets elsewhere, with no sign to suggest a slowdown within the seemingly relentless demand from global ultra-high-net-worth-individuals,” Faisal Durrani, the firm’s head of Middle East research, said in a Jan. 16 press release.
Among the many Gulf region’s wealthy, he said, “the UAE stays the second most definitely goal for a house purchase this 12 months, behind the UK.”
The chance stays that many individuals in Dubai who don’t fall into the category of very wealthy could also be priced out of the market; individuals who form much of the emirate’s economy. Quite a few expats are already being forced to downsize as landlords ask for rent increases upward of fifty%.
As property and rental prices proceed to climb, Dubai’s dramatic recovery and continuing ascent — most recently highlighted by the lavish opening of Atlantis The Royal — may yet leave a few of its residents behind.