Colin Montgomerie has opened one, as has Ernie Els. Tiger Woods is following, with Greg Norman and Vijay Singh in the chasing pack.

When you talk green in the Dubai, it's can be assumed you mean golf courses. Conservation and ecotourism are not common parlance in the United Arab Emirates.

In four days at the Arabian Travel Market this week, I heard a slew of figures and superlatives to illustrate the UAE's headlong goldrush to embrace tourism.

There's the world's tallest building still rising in Dubai, the biggest Guggenheim to open in Abu Dhabi and the world's biggest stable of theme parks planned back in Dubai.

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But only very rarely did sustainability arise - unless it concerned oil. Dubai's runs out in 2016, hence the stridency to diversify now and consider the ramifications later.

At a "Going Green" seminar, David can der Meulen of Arabian Traveller magazine pointed out that US hotel chains operating in the Middle East, like Fairmont, have inhouse policies to cover energy efficient lightbulbs, paper and water usage. None of the UAE hotel companies have, he said.

The Grand Hyatt in Dubai has gone further, replacing its gas and coal-fired boilers with solar panels - after all, the UAE is not short of sun. But Middle Eastern hoteliers barely pay lip service to green tourism.

One destination management consultant from Oman told the seminar that at a recent responsible tourism conference in South Africa, only three of the 500 delegates were from the Middle East.

If not forced, why would hoteliers from the region spend the money to go green, asked one Dubai investor? Another suggested taxbreaks for hoteliers to encourage improvements - until it was pointed out that the UAE is tax-free.

Hoteliers are more interested in numbers, brands and classifications - so where is the incentive, when oil and gas dollars are freeflowing and the enthusiasm is for more hotels, marinas, shopping malls and artificial islands?

Some bold statements have been uttered. Qatar Airlines is to build a huge facility to experiment with a gas-to liquid (GTL) and kerosene mix to lower aircraft emissions, with Abu Dhabi is building a $20bn car-free and solar powered city at Masdar.

But as one UAE blogger, Dr Geoff Pound, points out: "When cost is no object to the UAE, the easy option is to construct a new city using expensive materials. How much better if the UAE transformed an oil-guzzling and wasteful nation into an ecologically responsible country which recycled precious resources?"

A decade ago, the Al Maha Desert Resort opened in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, a national park housing native animal and plant species. It was a model of ecotourism, one of the first in the region to recycle "dirty" water for irrigation - so it is a surprise that not more models have followed.

But there are green shoots. A Beirut-based sustainable tourism operator, Expeditions International, is to manage a small hotel and research complex at the Ras al-Hadd turtle nesting beach and nature reserve in Oman.

And from October, tourists will be able to stay on Sir Bani Yas island off Abu Dhabi. the former private eco-retreat of a UAE ruler. It is the core of a Desert Islands project which officials hope will unlock the country's western region for conservation tourism.

It's part of the Masdar project, with transport on the islands will via electric vehicles and two of the eight islands will reserved for bird and turtle breeding grounds. Elsewhere in Abu Dhabi, it was announced this week that a wildlife park and resort, involving San Diego Zoo, will also be created, designed to preserve wildlife.

Inevitably, as at Al Maha, high-end luxury camps and "safaris" are involved - but this is the UAE, remember, where Armani and Versace open hotels next year and Madam Tussauds waxworks will vie with Legoland and the Snowdome for business.

Being green is a long way way from being top of the agenda.

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