Why people visit Dubai

Dubai is the second largest and most important city in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) after the capital, Abu Dhabi. As the commercial center and most visited city in the emirate, Dubai is fast becoming one of the most visited cities of the world , where of the estimated eight million people living in the […]

Dubai is the second largest and most important city in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) after the capital, Abu Dhabi. As the commercial center and most visited city in the emirate, Dubai is fast becoming one of the most visited cities of the world , where of the estimated eight million people living in the emirate, about 80 percent of that population are foreigners from close to 200 nationalities.
A city that experiences all year round sun with an average of a single rainfall per year, sitting on sand with an artificial lake thrown into it, and  having some of the best architectural designs; the only seven-star hotel on earth, some of the tallest and most beautiful structures, a very good road network, functional shipping business, it has a modern railway system with computerized trains, whose rail lines are either in tunnels or overhead Bridges and a functional airline, the Emirates, Dubai is everyone’s heaven.
A check at the ever-busy airport at Dubai revealed that the number of passenger that entered the emirate in September this year increased by 20 to 25 percent compared to August this year and September, 2012 respectively,an  indication that people are increasingly visiting the emirate.
The chief executive officer of Alfa Tours, Ghassan Aridi and the Managing Director of Lama Tours, Kulwant Singh said at different interviews that based on pre-bookings, the influx of tourists and other visitors to the emirate ,may increase by additional 12 percent within the last quarter of this year.
The increase is not only limited to passenger traffic, as the Vice President of operations for the Gulf and Levant countries at French hotel operator Accor, Hick Olivier said hotel room rates will increase by at least 15 percent within the period, due to the expected increase in the number of visitors to the emirate.
Possibly, the stability of the UAE’s economy, the emirate’s huge investments in tourism, despite being a major oil producing nation, and above all, the hospitality of the Emiratis and the opening up of investment opportunities in the very peaceful and trade friendly nation,  is what informed the rush by people from different parts of the world to invest in the UAE.

The nation’s capital, Abu Dhabi, is the major oil producing community of the UAE that is responsible for the production of over 90 percent of the four different crude oil grades produced by the country, which  include the most popular grade, Murban, lower Zakum, upper Zakum and Umm Shaif.  The emirate’s average crude oil output is 2.70 million barrels per day and bulk of it is exported.
Bolaji Kamal, a Nigerian who said he has been living in the emirate at Deirra area of Dubai for 11 years,  described the emirate as the best place for a law abiding person to live in, adding, “If you are willing to obey their laws and live a honest and transparent life, devoid of any criminality, the UAE is a good place for you to live in. They do not tolerate fighting. Do not indulge in criminal acts. Do not steal and you must have a job.
“I have been living here for eleven years, but I do not know up to 20 indigenes of the emirate. They are very scarce because they are not many. They are very hospitable  and very happy people. They respect and tolerate strangers. You can never see them fighting or disagreeing with anyone. You can never hear any of them saying it is my community that has oil, and yours does not have. They regard themselves as indigenes of UAE, simple.
“As a country, the UAE has leaders with foresight that are concerned  with the plight of the masses. Though an oil producing country, you can see how they invested massively in tourism, infrastructural development and nation building. They have a perfect security network. During  my 11 years stay here, I have not witnessed power failure for a second. Almost on a daily basis,  you must see a visitor coming to Dubai to trade or to invest,” he said.
Bolaji is not the only UAE based person  with a soft spot for the emirate, 49 year old Myriam Fakhreddine is from Switzerland,  and said she has been living in the UAE for two years, adding, “The UAE is simply heaven. You can walk in the street at 3am or at any time, and you will be safe. Back home in Geneva there are a lot of crimes. You  cannot leave your bag unattended , and expect to find it when you return.
“In the UAE there is no stress and no taxes. You can save your money here,  and enjoy a quality life. In Europe you live to work, here in the UAE you work to live,” she said.

But,Kholoud Ali Abbas, a 27 year old chef from Sweden, who said he has lived in the emirate for five years, said UAE lacks in nature and heritage, adding, “There are little historical and natural elements because everything is getting torn down due to construction. However, what the UAE does have is security. Also, there is a sense of equality here between classes. Everybody  is allowed to do the same social activities, without racial restrictions,” he said.
It is noticed that every person that wants  to talk about the UAE, must commend its security network. One begins to wonder if every person that visits  the UAE is from a violent country, with very poor security network, that he or she must commend the UAE’s security. That made this reporter to be curious about  how perfect the UAE police system is.
On the second day of his stay in a hotel at Al Baraha, a friendly female receptionist alerted the reporter through the hotel intercom, that he should come down and see the emirate police at a nearby hotel. The reporter had earlier told her that he had not  seen any policeman on the road since he came to the UAE. But before the reporter came down from the 34 storey building hotel to the reception at the ground floor, the policemen had  driven away from the neighboring hotel  a few meters away.

Whatever it was that took the police there, it was a quiet  operation that started and ended, without any noise or the sound of a gun. Even workers at the hotel where the police visited, only said the police went away with a hotel guest, but could not say what his offence was.
The next morning, a Dubai based journalist went with this reporter to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Dubai police to find out who was arrested and why the person was arrested. After the normal introduction, the two reporters were led into the office of the Deputy Commander in chief of the Dubai police, Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina whose men affected the arrest..
Al Mazeina said the suspect arrested at the Al Baraha hotel the previous day,  was a Saudi Arabian national who allegedly went to Kuwait and robbed a Bureau De Change of a large sum of money and carted away jewelleries  from a shop,  before dropping his gun near the shop and rushed to the airport, flying to the emirate through Dubai airport. He said the Dubai police were informed of the movement of the suspect by the international police (INTERPOL) after the suspect had arrived the emirate.
Al Mazeina said his men acting on the warrant of arrest of the suspect granted by the Interpol, traced the suspect to the hotel where they kept vigil on the man,  described as a very dangerous criminal in the Gulf countries. He said his men delayed the arrest of the suspect because there were so many people around the hotel, and it was not in the character of the police in Dubai to scare innocent people while carrying out operations.
He said the police waited until the suspect who was in company of his European girl friend went out and returned to the hotel,  before he was arrested .Part of the stolen money and jewelleries were recovered from his hotel room.
While this reporter was listening to explanations from the police chief, he was as well imagining a similar situation happening in Nigeria. The Nigerian police going to a hotel to arrest a robbery suspect without shooting guns to terrorize the entire community? Arresting only the suspect and leaving  other guests behind? Going to the scene and see the suspect and yet allow him to keep moving,  because they do not want to scare others? No, in Nigeria  the still -unborn must know they have come.

A Dubai based Nigerian, Alhaji Musa Kibiya who said he has never lived in Abuja, observed, “I was told that even in Abuja, there are CCTV cameras everywhere. If it is so, it means even the police in Abuja can be able to monitor and arrest the movement of such criminals? I am sure the Dubai police traced that suspect through the CCTV,” he said.
The reporter thought of replying him to the effect that  “I wasn’t sure. But even if they have CCTV in Abuja, I am not sure they have succeeded in tracing even a missing goat,” but the reporter said no. This man said he has been in Dubai for 5 years now. If he hears this he may not return to Nigeria, the reporter thought.
Despite the commendation coming from residents of the emirate, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai,  Shaikh Muhammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, crown Prince of Dubai, said the next growth period in the emirate would require new administrative ideas given different challenges, aspirations and high ceiling expectations. To the administration of the emirate, that same Dubai that is the heaven of most nations is still growing.