DUBAI IN THE SUMMER

BY RICHIE SANTOSDIAZ, EXECUTIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISOR, THE CORPORATE GROUP

As the school season and autumn come into full swing, there was one noticeable difference I felt last summer. This year, compared to my first full-year in the city back in 2019 was the feeling of more tourists who despite the Arabian Gulf’s notoriously long summer from June-September, seemed to be enjoying the best that Dubai had to offer.

The world is recovering from the pandemic evident in the surge of travel which has had rippling effects across supply and demands that have seen long queues and flight cancellations in airports across North America and Europe in particular. In 2019, Dubai had over 16 million tourists and since then, the city has seen a strong recovery in the sector. Coupled with that this, Dubai has been open to tourists since July 2020 thanks to a high vaccination rate overall in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and hosting the globally successful World’s Fair –Expo 2020 Dubai. The figures from the first half of this year saw over 7 million international visitors; top visitors came from countries like Saudi Arabia, Oman and India.

Historically, it was an assumption that summer in Dubai and the UAE as a whole was a bit quieter – as many thought the hot and humid weather encouraged tourists to go elsewhere. In addition, even residents who would mainly travel overseas choose to visit places like the UK or Turkey or anywhere colder.

Nonetheless, using the city’s main tourist attraction as a reference point on a personal level – Dubai Mall and Downtown Dubai in particular as a whole seem to be a very busy place where one can easily hear many of the world’s different languages. From Russian, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese to of course Arabic and English – these languages are spoken by couples, families and individuals walking around taking pictures of the city’s main iconic landmarks. I wondered to myself, what could be the growing interest to Dubai no longer just being a mainly winter destination but also a year-round destination?

First, the incentives to stay seem to be more than in the past. Yes, traditionally hotels and flights often are cheaper in the summer (simple economics supply and demand – summer had less demand in the past), which attracted people looking for a cheaper deal. However, there seems to be more to this. For instance, in July 2022, Dubai launched the 25th Dubai Summer Surprises, which was a 10-week event schedule that includes shopping offers, hotel incentives, and various food experiences and entertainment events across the city. Abu Dhabi also hosted something similar called the Abu Dhabi Summer Pass. This coupled with the challenges of the pandemic, saw an uptick in the rise of staycations during the summer of 2022.

Second, as stated previously, Dubai has been open to tourists since July 2020, with the UAE being regarded highly for managing the pandemic and the country having one of the world’s highest vaccination rates in the world. This has given the country a leg up as a tourist hotspot for nearly 3 years. In comparison, many other popular tourist destinations were either closed off to tourists and/or were experiencing high covid cases up until mid-2022.

Third, there have been more infrastructure catering to tourists that have been formed since then – from the expansion of Dubai Mall with the Zabeel and Fountain Views extensions to the new Dubai Hills Mall with more hotels and resorts that have/will open soon. These also include venues in the Palm Jumeirah such as newly opened Atlantis The Royal, the Marriot Resort Palm Jumierah, the Hilton Dubai Palm Jumeirah, the Radisson Beach Resort Palm Jumeirah and the Cote d’Azur Resort on Dubai World Islands. These give tourists more options to be more inclusive (and to escape the heat) but at the same time more options to see landmarks like the Burj Khalifa in an air conditioned space.

Finally, a last potential reason is that climate change has affected much of the world. Last summer, heatwaves struck Europe most notably in the UK where temperatures were almost as hot as it is in UAE. The difference here being that the GCC region is used to it and has the electrical infrastructure to manage hot summers. For example, many parts of Europe not only do not have A/C particularly the UK. In addition, historically buildings and infrastructure weren’t designed to keep buildings cool but the opposite to keep people warm and insulated.

From personal and professional observations, the above reasons could explain why there definitely are, at least in popular destinations like Dubai Mall, a consistent flow of tourists this past summer. Nevertheless, it is wonderful to see the tourism sector recover from the effects of the pandemic that has made Dubai one of the world’s top five most visited destinations in the world –past and present.