Dubai's oil is not limitless—the place has far smaller reserves than its fellow emirate Abu Dhabi, so the sheikhs of Dubai decided that real-estate investment and finance, mixed with a serious emphasis on resort tourism, would result in an economic boom—and they were right. But Dubaian tourism is not just any tourism, not tourism as we know it, but a souped-up, revved-up, va-va-voom tourism that wants to attract weekend visitors, week long vacationers, and second-homers too. The target of Dubai's Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing is not just what's known by developers as "the three-hour perimeter"—a circle with Dubai at the center and the circumference drawn a three-hour's flight away, encompassing almost the entire Middle East. The long view of Dubai beach holidays and tourism impresarios is global; already, more of Dubai's gross domestic product comes from tourism than from oil.

And the projects of Dubai's developers would make Barnum & Bailey blush. They're of an implausible, gargantuan size. In 10 years, there is to be a 100-square-mile development adjoining Dubai City called Dubailand that is to double the current size of the capital—which has already tripled in size from what it was 20 years ago. According to the investment literature, Dubailand is to include Aviation World, Astrolab Resort, Space & Science World, Extreme Sports World, the Plantation Equestrian & Polo Club, Dubai Autodrome, Pet Land, Safari Park, Dubai Outlet City, Teen World, Virtual Games World, and—"tying [together] all Dubailand worlds"—the City of Arabia.

Other attractions on Dubai beach holidays
There is a mock roller coaster on top of Dubailand's headquarters out in the desert—justifiably, for the success of this multibillion-dollar project, more than that of all the others before it, may well have its ups and downs and could determine the future of Dubai. Soon, too, the tallest building in the world, a slender needle of daunting grace called Burj Dubai, or Dubai Tower, will go up here, in a bold but not necessarily accurate assertion of Dubai's world preeminence.

At 160 stories (and twice the height of the Empire State Building), the Burj Dubai will dominate a skyline that is already famously postmodern. As you drive down Sheikh Zayed Road, flanked by skyscrapers of unimaginable design and exotic materials, you see dark, stylish publicity banners for the future tower flapping from the streetlights. One after another, the banners proclaim:

BURJ DUBAI—HISTORY RISING.
We're on a little motorboat off the coast, zipping through the warm waters of the Persian Gulf. The sky is a pure blue, and we're making good time. On any one of Dubai beach holidays here on the water, you'd expect to be on a fishing or diving expedition or shipping goods up to Bahrain or farther, to the far end of the Gulf: Iran. But, no, this is Dubai, and we're skimming the surface, looking at real estate.