The region will account for more than 50 per cent of the Dh1.84 trillion ($500 billion) global waterfront projects which are in the pipeline for the next five years, according to industry analysts.

And UAE will top the list with more than 50 per cent of the projects, Gavin Boyd, director of development at Palm Deira, was quoted in a Gulf News report.

While Dubai had only 70 kms of coastline in the early 1990s, it is expected to go up to 1,000 km by 2015, said Hamad Bin Mejren, executive director of business tourism at the department of tourism and commerce marketing in Dubai.

And companies will '100 per cent' move their headquarters to waterfront destinations, said Boyd, onthe sidelines of the Urban Waterfront conference, which started on Sunday.

Al Mejren estimates waterfront developments to boost tourism's 33 per cent contribution to Dubai's GDP.