UAE: Nakheel Awards USD 408 Million Contract For Construction Of Palm Gateway

Dubai master developer Nakheel signed a construction contract worth nearly USD 408 million for The Palm Gateway, a new, three-tower residential, retail and beach club complex at the foot of the world-famous Palm Jumeirah.

Nakheel has appointed Shapoorji Pallonji Mideast LLC to carry out the work, which will begin in Q2 2017 and take two and a half years to complete.

Shapoorji Pallonji Mideast LLC, part of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, has been active in the region for the over 45 years, delivering a range of projects.

The Palm Gateway includes 1,265 luxury apartments across three high-rise buildings, the tallest topping 285 meters, to be constructed on top of the existing Palm Monorail terminal, which includes 14 levels of parking spaces.

The waterfront living and leisure complex, will also retail, dining, health and fitness facilities, including parks, pools, and sports courts.

The Palm Gateway is one of three high rise developments by Nakheel on Palm Jumeirah. The Palm Tower, a 52-storey luxury hotel and residential complex at the center of the island is under construction, while PALM 360, a 220 meter twin-tower penthouse, apartment and hotel complex, is currently being designed.

Meanwhile, Sixteen good practices in Gastronomy Tourism from different countries were showcased in the second UNWTO Report on Gastronomy Tourism, touching on issues such as seasonality, training and innovation, ICT-related initiatives and wine-related itineraries.

The publication stresses that in terms of tourist motivations, experiencing gastronomy is now at a similar level to visiting a museum, enjoying music and admiring the architecture of a destination.

In this sense, gastronomy tourism has strong potential to improve destination management, promote cultures and contribute to other sectors such as agriculture and food manufacturing.

The commitment of gastronomy tourism towards the principles of sustainability has been one of the conclusions of the UNWTO Forum held in San Sebastian.

This includes areas such as poverty reduction, efficient use of resources, environmental protection and climate change, and the protection of cultural values, heritage and diversity.

The engagement of the traveler in these principles through his/her gastronomic experience was also underlined throughout the Forum.

The need to develop appropriate policy measures and a strong governance framework was highlighted as a major conclusion. This would facilitate not only the commitment of relevant actors, but also the interaction among them, as well as the development of private-public partnerships.

The union between gastronomy and tourism provides therefore a platform to revitalize cultures, to preserve tangible and intangible heritage, to empower communities and to enhance intercultural understanding.

These aspects were particularly tackled during the practical experiences included in the Forum, such as a cooking class and farm-to-table dining experiences