A New Year’s fire at the Dubai Address Hotel or not – bookings in Dubai’s tourism industry are looking strong for the first quarter of this year despite the fire which swept through a downtown hotel on New Year’s Eve, the head of the emirate’s tourism department told Reuters on Sunday.
Fire engulfed the 63-story Address Downtown luxury hotel and residential tower as thousands gathered below the nearby Burj Khalifa to watch a huge fireworks display.
Pictures of the blaze, the emirate’s second major fire of 2015, were beamed around the world, but Dubai’s allure as a tourism hub has not been diminished, according to Helal Saeed Almarri, director-general of Dubai Tourism.