How Does Dubai Cater to Millions of Tourists?

Dubai is the most dynamic, advanced, progressive and multicultural city of Asia. The city has seen a meteoric rise and has emerged as the alpha plus city in just a few years. Dubai is an oasis in desert. The city has been developing with such a fast pace that even its dwellers often get bewildered to see new projects coming out every now and then. From world’s largest to world’s highest and world’s fastest to world’s first, Dubai has everything to offer which could be the fancy of tourists. Owing to these reasons Dubai has become the ultimate destination of tourists seeking fun and pleasure in deserts of Middle East.

Indeed Dubai is a visionary product of its rulers. Although most of Middle Eastern states are endowed with black gold (oil), however, Dubai is the luckiest that it also got rulers who had wisdom, vision and determination to transform the city into one of the modern, developed and dynamic cities of the world. Transformation of city was indeed indispensable because oil in Dubai is at the brink of exhaustion. Therefore economy would need something else to flourish. Becoming a place for tourist influx and trade activities could be a good option to keep the economy rolling. Hence, economic policies of ruling sheikhs helped a lot in transforming the city into the most attractive world market which was open for trade to all and sundry. Trade supported infrastructural development of city in turn helped in tourism promotion. Furthermore foreigners’ friendly social policies also favored development of tourism in Dubai. This attracted intelligent brains of world to head to Muslim Middle Eastern city with the freedom to keep their western life style intact.

What attracts and holds foreigners in Dubai?

Tourists while visiting a destination always have something in mind to look for in order to get maximum satisfaction and value for their money. Generally tourists look for the following things in prior to plan for a visit to a particular city or country;

1.       Safety and security
2.       Infrastructure
3.       Culture
4.       Historical places
5.       Beautiful Beaches
6.       Climate
7.       Tourist friendly policies
8.       Cost effective transportation and accommodation options
9.       Shopping

Dubai in connection with the above mentioned options is either naturally endowed or has been successfully developed keeping in mind these aspects; thanks to the abundant wealth of the city.

Safety and Security

Dubai is the home of more than 2 million people belonging to over 150 nationalities of the world. It is even more cosmopolitan and multicultural than London, Paris or Tokyo. Dubai is probably the only city which has successfully tapped the synergy from the heterogeneous environment. Despite the fact that 80 percent of total population of Dubai constitutes expatriates but there are no scenes of delinquency in the streets of Dubai. The city has most modern policing system which ensures safety and security of people round the clock. Criminals cannot get away. Even lately, Dubai police has been given as expensive cars as Ferrari or Lamborghini to catch the culprits who over speed in expensive sports cars and cannot be caught with traditional sedans. This shows the intent and extent to which this city has gone to become a crime free city. Hence travelers have no issue of personal security as this is the prime concern of the authorities.

Infrastructure

Who does not want to see the world’s most beautiful and modern buildings, malls, plazas, hotels and resorts. Dubai has the tallest building i.e. Burj Al Arab and first man made islands purposely built for dwelling. It has one of the largest airports and duty free shops of the world. Sports stadiums and resorts of Dubai are worth visiting.

Although Dubai’s infrastructure is not as old as that of say Venice or Paris or Rome or Cairo but its newly developed buildings are patterned on traditional Muslim style of architecture. Hence visitors get a chance to look through historic patterns when visiting the shopping malls or other buildings of this cosmopolitan.

Dubai’s infrastructure has multitudes of attraction for tourists. It has the modern infrastructure coupled with other factors which attracted 10 million people to Dubai in 2012. Dubai has seen consistent rise in the number of tourists every year. It is expecting to cater to around 15 million visitors in 2015. The most important factor on which Dubai hopes to attract the said number of visitors in 2015 is its state of the art infrastructure and tourist friendly policies.

Culture

Dubai is a multicultural city with local Arabic culture as one of the various cultures but definitely not the dominant. With more than 150 nationalities living in this cosmopolitan city, a hybrid culture has evolved with the fusion of various sub cultures. Visitors can spot strange harmony as well as striking differences in culture of Dubai. People have all the freedom to live, dress and drink but in contained and decent environment. While visiting the beaches, women from veil to bikini could be seen to enjoy the environment. Cultural events offers wide opportunity to feel and see the various sub cultures of Dubai. Since Dubai welcomes people around the world therefore how is it possible that it does not offer a range of cuisines? Visitors can find many continental, Indian, Arabic, Lebanese, Pakistani, Chinese, and Thai restaurants. Food quality has no issue in Dubai because there are strict standards and monitoring policies to ensure food quality and hygiene. Depending upon the place, the prices of food are also affordable therefore eating good quality and variety of foods is not a big deal for tourists in Dubai, moreover it’s a plus point for tourists.

Historical Places

Owing to its oil driven economy and latest development, Dubai has the least to offer on this front. Tourists looking to historic places found in Istanbul, Rome, Lahore, Paris, London may be disappointed in Dubai because this area was ruled by Turkey before its dismemberment after the World War I and Turkish were least interested to leave their foot prints here for the generations to come. However Dubai has tried to overcome this weak area by patterning the architect of new construction on traditional models. Moreover traditional Arabic culture can be found outside the cosmopolitan areas in the countryside.

Beautiful Beaches

Although nature has not provided Dubai the beauty and climate of tropical beaches however city government has left no stone unturned to make this attraction powerful consideration for tourists visiting Dubai. Hence visitors can enjoy the beauty of tropical beaches in fully developed Dubai beaches which also offer the best opportunities for water sports. Dubai visitors should never miss the opportunity to hang out on beaches because here is everything that a beach lover could expect.

Climate

Climate of Dubai does not remain the same and welcoming throughout the year. Mid October to Mid April has the pleasant of temperatures while rest of the time it remains very hot and humid which is least attractive for Europeans. Jan-Feb is the high season in Dubai for tourists. Despite harsh winters, visitors can have sweat free enjoyment because everything in Dubai i.e. from a bus stop to a small grocery store is air-conditioned. Therefore life seems to be fully active and moving even in 45 degree Celsius.

Tourists Friendly Policies

Ruling Sheiks of Dubai are very keen to implement such policies which are friendly and welcoming for tourists. Although modernism and infrastructure of a city contribute a lot towards tourist influx but the policies of government also play a pivotal role in this regard. Hotels across Dubai cannot hold the passport of tourists come what may. Similarly there are hotels, resorts, pubs and night clubs allowed by government, which offer the best night life. Tourists are also served liquor in such places with the permission of the government. Such policies are seldom seen in other oil rich Muslim countries such as Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and so on. Enriching night life has always been the important attraction for tourists across the world and Dubai offers this attraction in a very good manner not comprising its own traditions and the requirements of visitors.

Cost effective transportation and accommodation options

Dubai also offers various options of accommodation suitable to lower income to high income visitors. Worlds only 7 star hotel i.e. Burj Al Arab is in Dubai which is one of the most expensive hotels in the world with the night package starting from $1200. Furthermore Dubai’s skyline offers many magnificent accommodation options for high end tourists. However Dubai’s old areas also offer accommodation starting from as low as $20/night therefore tourists in Dubai can find accommodation options suitable to their pockets.

City commuting system in Dubai has been developed not only to cater to hundreds of thousands of city dwellers but millions of tourists as well. Tourists have multiple options to choose transportation for sightseeing. Limousine taxis, Public buses, Metro trains are available to be used depending upon the tourist options. Public transport in Dubai is neat and clean, punctual, and high in frequency therefore no issue arises of inconvenience while using it. Indeed tourists feel and see the real Dubai while using public transports where they come across hundreds of other city commuters.

Shopping

Dubai has been ranked second most popular destination of the world after USA. From shopping malls to Souks to Duty free, Dubai has it all!! And that is why this city is also called shopping paradise. Dubai Shopping festival is held every year, which alone attracts more than 1 million tourists. While in Dubai, whether you want to buy gold or not, strolling through the dazzling gold souk (gold market having around 300 jewelry shops) is a must! You will feel really amazed and ecstatic once you observe the gold merchants busy in negotiating the gold prices with customers. Important tip for gold buyers! Persistent negotiation with an occasional walk away from the shop will surely get merchants to drop their asking prices.

Conclusion

Equipped with more than 175 tourist attractions, Dubai, beyond doubt, has definitely emerged as the destination of choice for tourists. With the ongoing pace of development, by year 2020, Dubai is all set to surpass the legacy of traditional and historical tourist places.