News: Middle East's First Legoland & World's Seventh Coming Up In Dubai

The Middle East’s first Legoland will be built in Dubai as part of a new tourism complex worth £1.7 billion.
The Dubai Parks and Resorts project will also include a Bollywood-themed park to celebrate the Indian film industry, and “Motiongate Dubai”, a Hollywood-themed park.

The project run by Meraas Holdings, a development company backed by Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai’s ruler and the UAE vice president, is part of the emirate's aim to increase its hotel capacity and tourist attractions. The emirate plans to boast 20 million annual visitors by 2020, when it will host the World Expo. The number would be a two-fold increase from the 10 million who came in 2012, and would set it ahead of London as the world's most visited city.

The first phase of the development's construction is expected to be completed by 2016. It will be located in the city’s Jebel Ali area, best known as the location of the emirate’s second palm-shaped island. The development will also include shopping and dining areas, as well as a family-friendly hotel, Lapita. The area will be close to a new airport, the Al Maktoum International Airport Project, which will have five runways.

The Legoland in Dubai will be the first in the Middle East and the seventh in the world, and will be aimed at children from 2-12 years. Developers in Dubai previously had plans for a Lego-themed park in the emirate, in a park known as “Dubailand”, which were shelved following the global financial crisis in 2008 that sent property prices in Dubai into a tailspin. The emirate was forced to accept a multi-billion dollar bail-out package from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. Property values have since recovered and in attempts to reach the 2020 target, spending on tourism infrastructure is booming.