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Shopping malls considered promoting tourism in Gulf countries
Increasing numbers of shopping malls have contributed to promoting tourism in Gulf countries during the past five years, with the malls rapidly increasing on par with the increase in spending, reports KUNA.
Statistics by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) have revealed that the six Gulf States – Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, and Qatar are likely to spend about USD18bn until 2009 towards construction of malls.
The investments in 200 malls of the six countries, have touched USD65 billion, and the annual sales has reached USD 30 billion, making it 5.5 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in these countries.
The area of shopping malls in Gulf is expected to touch 17million square meters in 2010, a growth by 550 percent when compared to the area dedicated to shopping malls during the year 2000. The factors that have led to such a growth in shopping malls are the population growth, which is the fastest in the world, and the fact that malls are increasingly considered as tourist attractions, particularly in Dubai.
Kuwait was the first among all countries in the region to establish shopping malls during the seventies of previous century. Kuwait houses the biggest and best malls in the region and is continuing to do so, with several other malls such as the “Kuwait 360 mall” likely to be opened in 2009.
The Kuwait Investment Authority’s (KIA’s) Jawaber mall in Istanbul is sufficient proof about the expansion of Kuwaiti malls.
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