A few days later, Prince Abdullah led a delegation from Dubai to China and arrived at the Capital Airport as scheduled on a 747SP specially customized by the Dubai royal family from Boeing Company.
The Boeing 747SP is a shortened version of the Boeing 747-100. The rear fuselage is shortened by 14 meters and the cruising range is increased to 12,300 kilometers. Therefore, under the same typical three-class cabin layout, the number of passengers can only be 220, which is much lower than that of the 747-100.
366 people.
This model is suitable for low-density long-distance routes, but due to its small passenger capacity, low cost performance and poor sales, it was discontinued in 1982.
However, the performance and features of this aircraft were favored by the Dubai royal family (price and related factors were not considered by the Dubai royal family.), so Boeing re-produced this model in 1987 and specially customized it for the Dubai royal family.
The aircraft became the exclusive business aircraft for the Dubai royal family.
Naturally, the modified royal family’s exclusive business jet will no longer adopt a standard cabin layout. The aircraft has been converted into 30 VIP seats and 50 attendant seats. The cabin is also equipped with bedrooms, conference rooms and bathrooms.
Although the level of luxury of this aircraft cannot be compared with those ultra-luxury private jets, it is unmatched in the field of business jets (business jets).
Since Prince Abdullah came to China for a private business visit, in addition to the Commercial Counselor of the Dubai Embassy in China, those who went to the airport to pick him up include the Deputy Director of the Middle East Department, the Planning Commission, and the Foreign Trade
Officials from the ministry and other ministries, as well as Maniel and other advance members from Dubai, also arrived at the airport to greet him.
Sun Dahai spent a few days with Maniel in the capital. Yesterday, Maniel had gone to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, and Sun Dahai was temporarily free. He was just waiting for the foreign affairs department to notify him when he would be received.
Fortunately, Prince Abdullah and his party are scheduled to stay in the capital for five days and will leave for home at the weekend, which will not affect Sun Dahai's high school entrance examination starting next week.
Sun Dahai was not willing to be just a prop, so he decided to invest in a big project in Dubai. This idea was strongly supported by Maniel, who was also unwilling to be treated like a child by his cousin, so he listened to Sun Dahai's suggestion.
After that, he immediately agreed to give his full support.
For Sun Dahai, if he wants to invest in a big project in Dubai, there is only one alternative, and that is the so-called "seven-star" Burj Al Arab Hotel.
The original name of Burj Al Arab Hotel is "Burj Al Arab Hotel", also known as "Arab Burj Al Arab Hotel". The hotel is located on an artificial island 280 meters away from the coastline, and the overall building resembles a sail.
From a distance, the hotel looks like a sailing ship setting sail in the Persian Gulf, so the Chinese habitually refer to it as the "Sailing Hotel".
The historical Burj Al Arab Hotel was initiated and designed in the early 1990s, and construction began in 1994.
The preliminary project of the hotel was the two-and-a-half-year reclamation of the sea and the island building. By the time it was finally completed, five years had passed and the hotel officially opened to the public in December 1999.
For Dubai, Sun Dahai really has no other investment direction. Energy products such as oil and natural gas are simply not something Sun Dahai can play with.
The barriers to entry in the energy industry are too high and the water is too deep. Entry relies more on qualifications than capital.
Sun Dahai has small arms and legs. Even if he becomes the richest man in the world through financial investment, it is not enough to enter this industry unless he is willing to be recruited by the national team.
As for other areas, Dubai really has nothing to invest in. Apart from energy products, Dubai's main specialties are dates, gold, silver, copper utensils and essential oil perfumes.
Huanyu Trading Company can set up a point there to engage in entrepot trade and continue to be an international broker. But when it comes to investment, there are really no investment projects that are suitable for establishing a future system.
Of course, Sun Dahai will not tell Maniel about specific investment projects now, but only sets the general direction of investment in the tourism industry.
Maniel has been in college for several years and has grown a lot. He also understands that many industries may look attractive but are not suitable for them to enter.
Although he can participate in many more projects than Sun Dahai. But unless it is an emerging industry, any industry has already formed a relatively fixed chain of interests, with one or more royal family members hidden behind it.
If Maniel breaks in, it doesn't matter if the scale is small. If it reaches a large scale, he will probably be attacked by a group. After all, Dubai's market capacity is too small.
The tourism industry is actually a good intervention point. Dubai has vigorously developed foreign trade and tourism in recent years, hoping to become the economic center of the Arabian Peninsula.
Compared with tourism, foreign trade investment is small and effective, so the powerful members of the Dubai royal family focus on the foreign trade industry.
The development of Dubai's tourism industry has been relatively slow. This has a lot to do with its large investment, slow results, and low profit margins. Even though the Dubai government has funded a number of projects, other than that,
Very few responded.
Maniel's entry at this time was definitely politically correct. Therefore, he asked the embassy for a lot of information, and studied with Sun Dahai at home for a long time, and finally decided to build a world-class luxury hotel.
This project cannot be accomplished by just relying on the two of them. This is not a matter of money, but a matter of face.
Therefore, Sun Dahai suggested to Maniel that he must try to persuade Prince Abdullah to take the lead in this project and attract some global investment institutions and tourism companies to invest, which can not only spread the risks, but also expand the project's popularity and influence.
.
"Sun, I heard that three five-star hotels have been built in Dubai in recent years, with the average cost ranging from 200 million to 250 million US dollars. How big do you think the investment scale of this project will be in the end?
Is it better than the hotels we built before?" Maniel asked.
Sun Dahai spread his hands and replied: "I want to go back to the big hotel according to my wishes. The goal is to become the world's number one luxury hotel.
As for the scale of investment, it depends on His Highness Prince Abdullah’s expectations for this project. But if you want to aim for the first place in the world, you need to start with at least one billion US dollars.”
"One billion dollars?" Maniel exclaimed.
Manuel, who inherited the inheritance, has a total personal assets of almost one billion U.S. dollars, thanks to his father who died young and was quite able to make money.
Including the shares given to him by the royal family, his assets are worth US$2 billion. Most of them are shares and real estate, as well as restricted assets that cannot be sold or mortgaged at will.
There are not many liquid assets that Maniel can use, probably tens of millions of dollars.
This is also thanks to his investment in No. 9 Hotpot Restaurant. In just over two years, the three branches opened in Dubai not only allowed him to recover the cost, but also provided him with a steady stream of cash flow.
However, at this time, Maniel did not have enough funds because he was already preparing to open branches in other countries in the Middle East.