The cost of generating all the snow and keeping it there is about the same as heating an office block in the UK. The insulation is so good that you could turn the power off for three days and still find the snow pretty much as you left it when you flicked the switch back on.

A ski slope in Dubai? Well, why not? If they can build offshore islands, seven-star hotels and the tallest building in the world, then a cavernous hall with artificial snow is a doddle.

It's another small step in Dubai's plan to become the single biggest tourist resort in the world, a Miami and Disneyland rolled into one, catering for visitors from all over the world.

The national airline, Emirates, was only launched two decades ago. Yet its most recent addition of routes - to Shanghai, Glasgow, Vienna, New York and Christchurch - now means it flies in tourists from 54 countries in Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

And it is the airline that is funding the world's tallest building, at 70 storeys or 800 metres high, which will open in 2008. Emirates says it hopes to break architectural boundaries with the property, which will have rooms jutting out from the main tower in curved wings and a rooftop bar.

It is thanks largely to Sheikh Rashid Al-Maktoum that the Dubai dream is being achieved - and it's all about oil. Looking to lessen its dependence on black gold, Dubai plans to attract 15 million hard-cash customers within five years, three times the number that visit today.

When I visited in 2002, the Emirate's ruler boasted that Dubai's impact on tourism "has hardly been felt yet" - and no one doubts for a minute that it will happen.

Around 100,000 Britons will visit in the first three months of 2006 and while the organisers of one of Dubai’s main tourist attractions, the January Shopping Festival, said all festivities would now be cancelled, the tourists will find plenty to amuse themselves.

Most are there simply for sun anyway, staying at one of the burgeoning number of glitzy hotels strung along the coast. There are 25 per cent more hotels than there were five years ago - and in the next five years there are plans for another 26 developments boasting over 8,000 more rooms and suites, 800 apartments and numerous villas. The cost of ten of these new developments alone will be £3.8bn.

British expats I meet described the spirit of Dubai: "Ambition, motivation, resources," says one. "It is Dubai plc," says another.

And it appeals to many different sorts of tourists. Some observers point out its spectacular "chavdom," which has encouraged neighbouring emirates such as Oman and Abu Dhabi to develop differing tourism strategies, hoping to pick up disaffected high spenders.

But Dubai does have broad appeal to middle-aged families who want security with their simple sun. And Dubai has also made its name as a haven for sports tourists and footballers wives.

Times recommends

• The posties' guide to Britain
• New Orleans: the complete guide
• The 10 best pedicures in London