Dubai

On the Arabian Peninsula, Dubai is a cosmopolitan metropolis and global city. It is one of the world’s ten most popular tourist attractions, and it is quickly expanding in tourism and commerce. It bills itself as one of the most contemporary and progressive cities in the Middle East, yet it has been heavily chastised for mistreating employees, particularly those from the Subcontinent. Critics studying the labor issue, notably New York University professor Andrew Ross, who launched a campus in the UAE in 2014, have been denied access by local authorities. Dubai is often wrongly considered a nation, despite being a component of the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai is the Middle East’s economic and cultural center, as well as a worldwide transportation hub, and it has drawn international attention with several huge creative building projects and sporting events. The city is defined by its skyscrapers, notably the world’s tallest structure, the Burj Khalifa, as well as ambitious development projects such as man-made islands, world-class luxury hotels, and some of the world’s biggest and most contemporary retail malls.

Tourism is a key component of the Dubai government’s plan to keep foreign revenue flowing into the emirate. Dubai’s allure for visitors is built mostly on shopping, although it also has other old and contemporary attractions. According to air traffic, Dubai was the seventh most visited city in the world in 2013 and the fastest expanding, rising at a 10.7 percent annual pace. By 2015, Dubai is anticipated to host more than 15 million visitors. The emirate is also the most populated of the United Arab Emirates’ seven emirates.

Dubai has been dubbed the “Middle East’s Shopping Capital.” Dubai alone features more than 70 retail malls, including the world’s biggest, Dubai Mall. Dubai is particularly well-known for its historic souk districts, which are situated on each side of the creek. Traditionally, dhows from East Asia, China, Sri Lanka, and India would disembark and the products would be negotiated over in the souks along the docks. Dubai Creek was the resource that first powered Dubai’s economic expansion and played a significant part in supporting the existence of the people in the city. Dubai Creek has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as of September 2013. The city also has a lot of shops and jewelry stores. Dubai is also known as “the City of Gold,” because to the Gold Souk in Deira, which includes almost 250 gold retail outlets.

Dubai Creek Park in Dubai Creek is especially important in Dubai tourism since it houses some of the most well-known tourist attractions in Dubai, including the Dolphinarium, Cable Car, Camel Ride, Horse Carriage, and Exotic Bird Shows.

UNDERSTAND

Dubai, a relatively young tourism attraction, was rated seventh in the world for foreign overnight visitors in 2013. It is primarily a desert city with outstanding infrastructure and liberal (by Islamic standards) legislation that has grown in popularity due to its excellent tourist facilities. Dubai is just a five-hour trip from Europe and three hours from much of the Middle East, the Near East, and the Indian subcontinent, making it an ideal destination for shopping, partying, sunbathing, good eating, sports events, and even a few naughty pleasures. In Dubai, homosexuality is a felony, and gay people may be jailed for public displays of love of any type. In the UAE, there isn’t a single independent media outlet. The nation is not a democracy, and although rules exist in Dubai, they apply to certain people more than others. Having said that, Dubai is significantly less restrictive than many of its neighbors. Dubai boasts one of the world’s greatest per capita immigrant populations, and the multicultural food on show is world-class by worldwide standards. Personal safety is not a concern in Dubai, as both men and women may wander freely at any time of day or night.

Despite the fact that Arabic is the official language, and that foreigners outnumber Emiratis in Dubai by about four to one, it is reasonable to conclude that the majority of the population does not speak it. The lingua franca is English, and most Emiratis speak it in order to converse with the migrant laborers who work for them. In truth, rather than Emiratis, most stores are manned by Indian or Filipino foreign labor.

Friday is the weekly day off. For the public sector and schools, a harmonised weekend of Friday and Saturday has been in place since September 2006. After years of a mixed bag of Friday/Saturday and Thursday/Friday weekends, government agencies, multinational corporations, and most schools and colleges now have Friday and Saturday off. Some small businesses continue to work half a day on Thursday and a full day on Saturday, while bigger corporations often give their staff Friday and Saturday off.

Dubai has a scorching desert environment. Summers in Dubai are very hot, windy, and humid, with an average high of 41 °C (106 °F) and nightly lows of 30 °C (86 °F) in August, the warmest month. Throughout the year, most days are sunny. Winters are mild, with an average high of 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit) and nightly lows of 14 degrees Celsius (57 degrees Fahrenheit) in January, the coldest month. Precipitation, on the other hand, has been rising over the previous several decades, with annual precipitation reaching 94.3 mm (3.71 in). Summers in Dubai are also noted for their moderate to high humidity levels, which may be unpleasant for many. The hottest temperature ever recorded in Dubai was 52.1 °C (126 °F) in July 2002.

Dubai is about at sea level and is located on the Persian Gulf coast of the United Arab Emirates (16 m or 52 ft above). Dubai is bordered to the south by Abu Dhabi, to the northeast by Sharjah, and to the southeast by the Sultanate of Oman. Hatta, an emirate minor exclave, is bounded on three sides by Oman, as well as the emirates of Ajman (in the west) and Ras Al Khaimah (in the north). The Persian Gulf runs along the emirate’s western shore. Dubai is located at 25.2697°N 55.3095°E and has a total size of 1,588 sq mi (4,110 km2), representing a considerable extension from its original 1,500 sq mi (3,900 km2) designation owing to sea reclamation.

Dubai is located in the Arabian Desert. However, the geography of Dubai differs greatly from that of the southern section of the UAE in that most of Dubai’s environment is dominated by sandy desert patterns, while gravel deserts dominate much of the country’s southern region. The sand is thin, pure, and white, made up largely of broken shell and coral. The salt-crusted coastal lowlands, known as sabkha, give way to a north-south running stretch of dunes east of the city. The dunes get bigger and more red with iron oxide as they go east.

The flat sandy desert gives way to the Western Hajar Mountains, which extend along the boundary between Dubai and Oman in Hatta. The Western Hajar range features an arid, craggy, and fractured terrain with mountains that reach 1,300 meters (4,265 ft) in certain areas. There are no natural river bodies or oasis in Dubai; however, there is a natural inlet, Dubai Creek, which has been dredged to make it deep enough for big boats to pass through. Dubai also boasts a number of gorges and waterholes that run along the foot of the Western Al Hajar mountains. A massive sea of sand dunes covers most of southern Dubai and finally leads into The Empty Quarter desert. Dubai is seismically in a highly stable zone—the closest seismic fault line, the Zagros Fault, is 200 kilometers (124 miles) away and is unlikely to have any seismic influence on Dubai. Experts also estimate that the likelihood of a tsunami in the area is low since the Persian Gulf waters are not deep enough to generate a tsunami.

The sandy desert that surrounds the city is home to wild grasses and the odd date palm. Desert hyacinths thrive in the sabkha plains east of the city, while acacia and ghaf trees thrive in the flat plains near the Western Al Hajar mountains. In Dubai’s natural parks, indigenous plants such as date palms and neem coexist with foreign trees such as eucalypts. In Dubai’s desert, you may see houbara bustards, striped hyenas, caracals, desert foxes, falcons, and Arabian oryx. In the spring and fall, more than 320 migrating bird species pass through Dubai on their way between Europe, Asia, and Africa. More than 300 kinds of fish, including the hammour, live in Dubai’s waterways. Tropical fish, jellyfish, coral, dugong, dolphins, whales, and sharks are common marine life off the coast of Dubai. Turtles of many kinds, including the endangered hawksbill turtle and green turtle, may also be found in the region.

Dubai Creek flows through the city from northeast to southwest. The eastern half of the city is known as Deira, and it is bounded to the east by the emirate of Sharjah and to the south by the town of Al Aweer. The Dubai International Airport is situated south of Deira, while the Palm Deira is located on the Persian Gulf north of Deira. Much of Dubai’s real-estate growth is focused in the Jumeirah coastal strip, west of Dubai Creek. This part includes Port Rashid, Jebel Ali, the Burj Al Arab, the Palm Jumeirah, and theme-based free-zone clusters such as Business Bay.

Dubai, one of the world’s fastest growing economies, is expected to have a GDP of USD 107.1 billion in 2014, with a growth rate of 6.1 percent. Despite the fact that a number of key components of Dubai’s trade infrastructure were constructed on the basis of the oil sector, earnings from oil and natural gas account for less than 5% of the emirate’s total income. Dubai is anticipated to produce 50,000 to 70,000 barrels (7,900 to 11,100 m3) of oil per day, as well as significant volumes of gas from offshore sources. The emirate contributes around 2% of the UAE’s total gas income. Dubai’s oil reserves are severely depleted and are predicted to be depleted in 20 years. The main contributions to Dubai’s economy are real estate and construction (22.6 percent), commerce (16 percent), entrepreneurship (15 percent), and financial services (11%).

In 2014, Dubai’s non-oil international trade was $362 billion. Imports accounted up the lion’s share of total trade volumes, totaling $230 billion, while exports and re-exports to the emirate were $31 billion and $101 billion, respectively.

By 2014, China has surpassed the United Arab Emirates as Dubai’s most important foreign commercial partner, with a total of $47.7 billion in trade flows, a 29 percent increase over 2013. India was Dubai’s second-largest commercial partner, with $29.7 billion in commerce, followed by the United States, with $22.62 billion. With a total trade value of $14.2 billion, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was Dubai’s fourth trading partner internationally and first in the GCC and Arab world. In 2014, trade with Germany was $12.3 billion, trade with Switzerland and Japan totaled $11.72 billion, and trade with the United Kingdom totaled $10.9 billion.

Historically, Dubai and its twin across Dubai Creek, Deira (at the time independent of Dubai City), were key ports of call for Western manufacturers. The port region housed the majority of the new city’s banks and financial institutions. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Dubai remained an important commercial route. Dubai enjoys unrestricted gold commerce and was the center of a “brisk smuggling trade” of gold ingots to India, where gold imports were prohibited, until the 1990s. Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, built in the 1970s, is the world’s biggest man-made harbour and is rated eighth in the world for the amount of container traffic it accommodates. Dubai is also a service sector powerhouse, with industry-specific free zones located around the city. Dubai Internet City, which is part of TECOM (Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone Authority), is one such enclave, with members including IT companies such as Hewlett-Packard, EMC Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Microsoft, Dell, and IBM, as well as media organizations such as MBC, CNN, BBC, Reuters, Sky News, and AP.

The government’s decision to shift from a trade-based, oil-reliant economy to one centered on service and tourism increased the value of property, resulting in property appreciation from 2004 to 2006. A longer-term evaluation of Dubai’s property market, on the other hand, revealed depreciation; some houses lost up to 64% of their value between 2001 and November 2008. The building of large-scale real estate development projects has resulted in the construction of some of the world’s tallest skyscrapers and biggest projects, including the Emirates Towers, the Burj Khalifa, the Palm Islands, and the world’s most costly hotel, the Burj Al Arab. As a consequence of the weakening economic conditions, Dubai’s housing market underwent a significant fall in 2008 and 2009. The situation had deteriorated by early 2009, with the Great Recession wreaking havoc on property prices, construction, and jobs. This has had a significant effect on the region’s property investors, some of whom have been unable to discharge monies from investments in property projects. As of February 2009, Dubai’s foreign debt was expected to be at $80 billion, a minuscule fraction of global sovereign debt. Dubai real estate and UAE property specialists think that by avoiding previous errors, Dubai’s real estate industry may attain long-term stability.

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) was founded in March 2000 as a secondary market for trading both domestic and international equities and bonds. As of the fourth quarter of 2006, its trading volume was around 400 billion shares, valued a total of $95 billion. The DFM had a market valuation of about $87 billion. The other Dubai-based stock market is NASDAQ Dubai, which is the Middle East’s international stock exchange. It allows a variety of firms, including UAE and regional SME’s, to trade on an exchange with a worldwide brand name, with access to both regional and international investors.

Dubai is also known as the City of Gold because gold transactions account for a significant portion of the economy, with total gold trading volumes in H1 2011 reaching 580 tonnes at an average price of US$1,455 per troy ounce.

In 2007, a City Mayors poll placed Dubai 44th among the world’s greatest financial cities, while another City Mayors study revealed that Dubai was the world’s 27th wealthiest city in terms of purchasing power parity in 2012. (PPP). Dubai is also a worldwide financial center, ranking 37th among the top 50 global financial cities in the MasterCard Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index (2007), and first in the Middle East.

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global City Competitiveness Index rated Dubai at No. 40 in 2012, with a total score of 55.9. According to its 2013 study report on the future competitiveness of cities, Dubai will have risen to 23rd overall in the Index by 2025. The leading international investors in Dubai real estate are Indians, followed by Britons and Pakistanis.

Dubai has implemented a number of important initiatives to help its economy and expand various industries. These include Dubai Fashion 2020 and the Dubai Design District, which is projected to attract top local and international designers. The first phase of the project, worth AED 4 billion, will be completed in January 2015.

INTERNET

Internet cafés might be difficult to locate. The standard hourly cost is 3-4 AED. In Bur Dubai, there are many cafés on Al Musalla Rd/Al Mankhool Rd, including one at 38 Al Musalla Rd and another in Computer Plaza adjacent to the Ramada Hotel. Satwa also has a lot of Internet cafés. The French Connection in Satwa is located in the Al Wafa Tower on Sheikh Zayed Rd (opposite side of the road from the Dusit Hotel) and offers wi-fi connection as well as tasty cakes and pastries. A 5-minute walk northwest of the Dubai Youth Hostel is an internet café in Al Qusais. Turn right as you exit the gates and go to LuLu’s Hypermarket. The café, which is situated inside the food court, costs AED 4.00 per hour. It should be noted that the Skype website is temporarily inaccessible. Teenage gaming cafés abound, with noteworthy examples being Escape gaming zone (opposite lulu hypermarket in al barsha), Que club in al barsha, and behind Lamcy plaza.

Surprisingly, there are no internet cafés in the malls. The Dubai Mall has free Wi-Fi everywhere. The Mall of the Emirates has free Wi-Fi, but you must have a local phone number to use it. Many coffee shops, restaurants, and tourist destinations provide free Wi-Fi, although you must normally ask for the password. Most hotel business centers provide internet cafés, although they are pricey.

Etisalat, the UAE’s telecom provider, provides iZone, a roaming, postpaid Wi-Fi internet connection. This service is available at the majority of coffee shops and malls in Dubai. Prices may be found on the website. For those who still use dial-up internet, Etisalat offers a service in which you may connect into any phone line and be charged 0.5 dhs each minute.

POST OFFICE

Emirates Post’s service is very effective. Because mail delivery to the door is not normal, you will need to rent a P.O. Box.

RADIO AND NEWSPAPERS

Due to the significant migration of expats, Dubai features a diverse range of English-language periodicals and radio stations.

Most hotels and airport terminals also sell international newspapers. Newspapers from the United Kingdom and the United States are available in Carrefour and Borders shops. Todaily, a local publishing firm, can provide newspapers and magazines from all over the globe on a daily basis.

PHONE

The international code for the UAE is +971. For land lines, add a 4 after the +971.

Local mobile phone numbers begin +971 50 xxx yyyy or +971 56 xxx yyyy for Etisalat and +971 55 xxx yyyy for Du.

GSM phone users may anticipate auto roaming from their native nations. Because roaming costs are rather costly (easily 3 USD per minute and often more for a call to Europe) and inbound calls are also charged, consider purchasing a local prepaid GSM SIM card, created specifically for visitors, from one of the UAE’s two cellular providers.

Phone booths may be seen on almost every street. Phone cards are available for purchase in hotels and tourist stores.