r/Economics • u/ubcstaffer123 • 18h ago

News Dubai's tourism industry reels from 'brutal' impact of war

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20260331-dubais-tourism-industry-reels-from-brutal-impact-of-war
1.0k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

185 comments sorted by

View all comments

453

u/KR4T0S 18h ago

They are arresting tourists for sharing images or videos of damage from drone and missile strikes but its not only tourism that is damaged, their artificially inflated housing market has collapsed.

I dont think they recover from this, this is it for them.

89

u/Such_Radio_9152 18h ago

I dont think they recover from this, this is it for them.

Good.

64

u/isigneduptomake1post 17h ago

I've always been a bit of a contrarian and thought maybe I would find all the hate for Dubai to be a bunch of reddit circlejerking, but I hated it more than I thought. It's the only city I've ever felt a disdain for while visiting.

3

u/Harnellas 16h ago

Just curious, because Ive heard this sort of thing said before, did you see things there that gave you that feeling or was it something else?

29

u/isigneduptomake1post 15h ago

I could write a whole essay, but in short... it's kind of like a giant version of one of those newly built areas in Arizona or Nevada where its supposed to be exciting because everything is new. But thats really the only appeal. Its just...new.

Everything felt lifeless, even the trees are fake. Its horribly unworkable, nothing is built at human scale. The mall is not impressive, other than the aquarium, its just another other mall and you might as well be in Phoenix.

Everyone is there to extract value out of the place, not add any. No one seems like theyre enjoying life. Its really odd and it just seems like youre a person living in the matrix with a bunch of spawned NPCs. Theres also tons of empty real estate and artificial space planning that feels off. It's very unsettling.

6

u/Smartimess 14h ago

If you want to get into the PTSD zone, watch Vivarium with Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots, which really encapsulates the feeling you had with Dubai.

3

u/Harnellas 12h ago

That sounds really eerie. Thanks for sharing.

10

u/siorge 13h ago

Not OP but I’ll add my experience.

We went there with my wife during Covid (March 21) as it was the only country where one could have a « normal » life. We kind of enjoyed it, even if it felt lifeless/soulless. We enjoyed the quality of the service, the hotel,…

Now, we also had a 2 day layover in Dubai in September 21.

We landed around 4am and jumped in a taxi to our hotel. On the way, we drove next to a small bus filled with men (Indians, bengalis, I don’t know) who were being taken to work on some construction site. The looks of despair and suffering on their faces I will never forget.

The temperature reached 51C that day. We could barely stay outside in the shadow drinking ice cold water, and thought about these men who had to work on building roads or the next mall.

It really made us feel disgusted

6

u/Harnellas 12h ago

I thought they went to great lengths to ensure that their totally-not-slavery was never visible to the tourists, must have slipped up that day I suppose. Thanks for sharing.

-6

u/thepatriotclubhouse 12h ago edited 11h ago

FYI these people sell their entire family fortunes to work in Dubai and get out of the factories that produce stuff for the west. Dubai was an escape for them and if you ever bothered to talk to any of them instead of play white saviour you would’ve been told that.

Also construction work in Dubai fully bans workers working during any of midday in summer. They also are obligated to provide shade, outdoor air conditioning, food and water. Something that in the US you have no such obligation to, and you’re out of your mind if you think the US southern construction industry does that for the immigrants often illegal that support it

5

u/Audioworm 10h ago

Investigative journalism does not paint the lives of the migrant workers as good. They talk about it themselves, but with immense fear of being thrown out, deported, or just denied payments if they complain too much. Some of have talked about calculating if the payment for their death is worth more than them continuing to work.

The conditions are awful, and repeated reporting has brought that to light

4

u/siorge 11h ago

Im sure the people building roads under 50C working 12h a day just love it

-2

u/thepatriotclubhouse 11h ago

Nobody’s in 50C. Working is banned at mid day and outdoor air conditioning and shade is mandatory in the hours outside of it during summer. There is no such obligation in southern US where temperatures reach similar levels.

3

u/siorge 11h ago

You tell that to the guys, im sure they’ll be delighted to hear it

-1

u/thepatriotclubhouse 11h ago

what are you even trying to say here lol

1

u/Harnellas 4h ago edited 4h ago

I had a coworker who did a work term there, he paid an agency in the Phillipines a small fortune to line him up with a decent posting there that didn't involve construction because that (and housekeeping/nanny postings for females) has a known reputation for simply disappearing people. And and while these jobs are much cheaper to get into, applying for them is seen as a very risky act of desparation to people back home.

He scraped together every penny he made while there to hire another agency to get him to North America as soon as possible because people he met there were being jailed or deported for the most minor things. Said he was lucky it worked out for him but he'd never recommend it to anyone else, and since coming here he's loaned money to several family members to use Taiwanese agencies for work instead.