Urban tourism on the rise in Dubai
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The fast-growing retail landscape in Dubai has given rise to a new concept of Urban tourism. 
This concept has grown exponentially over the past few years. This fact was further substantiated by market research conducted by Reed Travel Exhibitions, which revealed that more than 276 hotels and hotel apartments are located within 2km of one of five mega shopping malls in Dubai.
Mark Walsh, portfolio director at Reed Travel Exhibitions said: “Five of the leading shopping malls in Dubai were identified and ATM researched the number of hotel and hotel apartments within a two kilometre radius of each of them, or in other words a five-minute taxi ride.”
According to Alpen Capital, retail sales in the Gulf region will hit US$270bn in 2016, which it puts down in part to an expanding tourism and hospitality industry. Of the 387 hotels and 188 hotel apartments registered by the Dubai Government Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) at the end of 2011, 48% were within 2km of one of these five shopping malls.
Another interesting figure revealed by the research is that even if the search was reduced to within just one kilometre of these five malls – there are still 125 hotels and hotel apartments representing 24% of Dubai’s total hotel stock.
