Dubai’s icon, the equivalent of Sydney’s Opera House, has for 23 years been the sail-shaped Burj Al-Arab, but upstarts continually intrude. There’s 829.8-metre tall Burj Khalifa, and now also Ain Dubai, at 250 metres high the world’s tallest Ferris Wheel.

Emirates has enlisted Byron Bay action-hero, Chris Hemsworth, as the face of a new global campaign to push Expo 2020 Dubai.

Minor Hotels has boosted its presence in the United Arab Emirates, taking over the management of the five-star Ibn Battuta Gate Dubai Hotel, and positioning it under the Oaks Hotels, Resorts and Suites brand, the second Oaks property in the emirate.