Las Vegas hotels are often considered a prime example of overbuilding during the bubble. But Dubai makes the Vegas overbuild look conservative.

Over at The New Geography, Wendell Cox puts it in the starkest terms:

It seems fair to ask what Dubai was seeking to accomplish. On one hand, there was an interest in developing a strong tourism base, and tourism has increased over the past decade. Yet, Dubai attracts only 1/10th of tourism of Las Vegas, while having more than one-half the hotel rooms. One challenge is that what has been built may already be too large to be supported by the permanent population, Emirati or expatriate.

As we've said before, Dubai was such an obvious bubble it's hard to believe anyone missed it.