The world’s tallest clock tower, a hybrid of Big Ben and the Empire State Building, hovers above Muslim pilgrims as they walk around the Kaaba in Mecca, Islam’s most sacred site.
The Mecca Royal Clock Tower is the centrepiece of Abraj Al Bait, a $2bn complex of seven towers, being built by the Bin Laden Group on the site of a destroyed Ottoman fortress. The complex, due to be completed next year, features hotels, shopping malls and residential apartments to be managed by Fairmont, Raffles and Movenpick.
Saudi Arabia is capitalising on the world’s growing Muslim population by developing massive tracts in and around its holy sites and has identified religious tourism as a way of diversifying its economy.
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