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Dubai: For many tourists, a visit to Dubai is not complete unless they return home with a souvenir from the city to put on their mantelpiece at home.
Some people board their plane home clutching a toy camel or perhaps a painting of a traditional scene from the UAE's deserts.
Others prefer a plastic or glass model of the futuristic Burj Al Arab hotel, while another favourite gift is a glass sculpture of the striking Emirates Towers.
However, there is now a new souvenir that, in years to come, could well end up as the most popular of them all even though the building that inspired it is far from being finished.
Models of Burj Dubai, which in reality is now more than 80 storeys high and set to become the world's tallest building, have found their way into the gift shops of Dubai.
In recent weeks, shops across the city have begun stocking Chinese-made golden metal recreations of the building.
Among the stores to have them is Classic City in Satwa, which began stocking these after its purchasing manager, Hamzeh Mohammadi Azad, spotted them in a market in Deira.
"We'll have to see what the customers think. We don't have a large quantity and have only just started with them.
"It's mostly tourists who buy these things they like the Burj Al Arab as it's the most famous, and we're hoping they would buy this as well," he said.
He said so far interest from customers in the models, which sell for Dh67, was limited, but he was confident enthusiasm would grow as the building nears completion.
"We don't have that many sales so far but I think in the future we would have," he told Gulf News.
The $1-billion (about Dh3.67 billion) Burj Dubai is set to be more than 160 storeys high and would be over 700 metres tall. It would house a hotel, apartments, shops and offices.
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