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Some 4.2 million square metres of mall space is being built, including the biggest and second biggest malls in the world at Bawadi and City of Arabia. He said the government has to ensure tourism takes up the slack in spending as the population will not grow fast enough to hit a more sustainable figure.
'The way those numbers will work properly is to ensure that visitors to the UAE take more than 50% of the total spending. If you factor that in then yes it is sustainable. But with the resident population alone, no it's not.'
MacLean estimated that including potential tourism spending in malls, that low figure could hit just over $7,000 a square foot, which would then make malls sustainable.
'The way those numbers will work properly is to ensure that visitors to the UAE take more than 50% of the total spending. If you factor that in then yes it is sustainable. But with the resident population alone, no it's not.'
MacLean estimated that including potential tourism spending in malls, that low figure could hit just over $7,000 a square foot, which would then make malls sustainable.
Rob Jones, Editorial Director
