A few hours before hosting the biggest party in the world, Sol Kerzner takes a short break to order lunch: tomato and avocado salad with mineral water. It is not the type of meal that one would expect the South African tycoon, who built his fortune on opulent Las Vegas-style resorts and gambling, to relish. Nor did he appear to enjoy it.

However, at 73, the head of Kerzner International has turned a new leaf, renouncing liquor and cigarettes after a brief stint in rehab. These days, he watches what he eats and is happiest spending quiet time with his wife, Heather, and his family. Every Christmas he assembles his children from his present and three previous marriages in the South of France for a holiday.

If his present incarnation is a departure from his past, so, too, is his newest hotel, the £1 billion investment that is Atlantis, a sprawling, ocean-themed, family friendly resort on Dubai’s palm-shaped artificial island.

The Islamic rulers of Dubai ban gambling, public drunkenness and public displays of affection – and so the setting might seem unusual for Mr Kerzner’s latest venture. But Mr Kerzner is a businessman and what drew him to Dubai was pure business.

“I felt very confident that the Middle East was the right place to buy,” he said. “What’s really attractive about Dubai is that it is served by one of the greatest airlines [Emirates] in the world. Whether you are looking at Russia or Europe or the UK, it’s all within five or six hours’ flight from here.”

Mr Kerzner began doing business in Dubai ten years ago, with the One&Only Royal Mirage, and he believes that the emirate offers a degree of shelter in the present economic climate.

“I’ve watched all of this infra-structure built from nothing,” he said. “I’ve seen the desert transform into all the stuff you see here. It’s a pretty amazing place.”

Dubai’s unrelenting ambition is in lockstep with Mr Kerzner’s. He is planning another One&Only resort on The World, a series of man-made islands built by Nakheel, the state-owned developer, which is laid out to resemble the Earth.

He is also undertaking a development in his native South Africa – a £50 million One&Only in Cape Town that is scheduled to open in May – and another in Casablanca.

Still, he bristles at the suggestion that the credit crunch has not affected him – or Dubai, for that matter. Mr Kerzner recently ordered a halt on future projects, including a $6 billion (£4 billion) joint venture with MGM Mirage, the casino operator, and a Nakheel affiliate on the Las Vegas Strip. “We put them off because of the [economic] environment,” he said. “You can’t raise any finance on reasonable or acceptable bases.”

The British Government’s amending this year of its approach to allowing a significant expansion of the casino industry means that he has also given up his plans to build a super-casino in the UK. Two weeks ago, Mr Kerzner laid off 800 staff, about 10 per cent of the workforce, at his Atlantis resort in Bahamas.

“It was a very unhappy conversation I had to have with the Prime Minister and Government, but in order to maintain the viability, one must adjust to the changing circumstance,” he said. Hotel bookings are down by about 10 per cent across the industry, according to figures for September, with analysts expecting to report a further plunge for October.

And what about Atlantis Dubai? At present it appears to be bucking the trend, with hotel occupancy across the emirate running at about 85 per cent. The buzz generated by the opening of the pink, 1,600-room Atlantis has tethered bookings to about 80 per cent in its first six weeks of operation, before the extraordinarily grand launch.

However, the future looks uncertain. Mr Kerzner said: “It’s very hard to predict. Your visibility is no longer three or four months ahead. People are making their holiday decisions last minute because of the economy. If we have to trim our operational costs, we will.”

Dubai is showing fresh signs of financial strain. It is struggling under burdensome debt as its property boom heads towards a slump. However, Mr Kerzner would not allow the economic crisis to ruin the £13.5 million opening party for Atlantis last Thursday, which featured fireworks so extravagant that they could be seen from space and a red carpet graced by Hollywood luminaries from Robert De Niro to Lindsay Lohan.

Mr Kerzner said: “If I had to do it all over again, I might do it recognising the fact that we’re living through a bit of a tough economic environment. But you have to look at it as an investment.”

The party went off without a hitch; however, some of his would-be guests were said to have pulled out at the last minute because they worried that images of them attending the bash in these tough economic times would have reflected badly on them.

For Mr Kerzner, the idea of cancelling the event was out of the question. He hopes that the live performance by Kylie Minogue and the fireworks displays, which were seven times the scale of those sent skywards at the Beijing Olympic Games during the summer, will lure holidaymakers from around the world.

“I asked myself: ‘Will this [party] make a difference?’ And I think that, in many ways, I believe it will,” he said. “It’s exciting to throw a party on this kind of scale. Besides, what else am I going to do? Sit on the beach?”

C.V.

Born August 23, 1935, in Troyeville, Johannesburg, the youngest of four children

Childhood His parents, immigrants from Russia, started a small hotel chain. After becoming a chartered accountant, he took over the family business

Career He built Sun International, the most successful hotel group in South Africa. He is chairman of the board of Kerzner International. The success of Sun City, his South African resort, paved the way for international expansion into hotels and casino resorts. He opened his first Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. One&Only Resorts, his management company, operates five-star luxury resorts in the Bahamas, Mexico, Mauritius, Dubai and the Maldives.

Controversies As a developer of gambling resorts, he has been investigated for corruption a number of times, none of which has resulted in a conviction. In 1985 Sun City was the topic of an antiapartheid rock album titled Sun City by a group of musicians calling themselves Artists United Against Apartheid. The group was founded by Steven Van Zandt, a former bandmate of Bruce Springsteen, who went on to become a featured actor in The Sopranos