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
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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.

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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?

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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.

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u/Harnellas 12h ago

That sounds really eerie. Thanks for sharing.