WHY do some bloggers, websites and European capital dailies seem to delight in announcing, “The bubble has burst!” when talking about the Gulf region and particularly about Dubai’s economic future?
This is at a time, when Europe, the USA and Japan’s GDP growth have been forecast at minus percentages, whilst Dubai contracts from double digits to single digit growth.
I can understand the wanna-be house and apartment buyers gleefully quoting reports saying that the ridiculously high prices are falling, but this was in fact a correction long overdue and will not change the reality that property in the Gulf was, is and will remain a good investment.
For the gleeful glory boys pointing to the fact that some workers have not been paid for a few months; please note, these contractors have had their wrists severely rapped and harsh legislation has been introduced to ensure this does not happen regularly. And no, the governments are not running out of money, but yes they did borrow millions for their future and current development projects.
Look around and admire the transformation. Less than 50 years ago, Dubai was a hard-up, ex-pearling village on a silted up Creek. Tourism was as remote a concept as a town in Siberia, roads were few and far between, there was no airport and no hotels to speak of.
Today, Dubai is on the list of the world’s top vacation destinations. Its airline, Emirates, is a market leader in the aviation industry. The hotels are admired throughout the world and tourism attracts millions of visitors annually from around the entire globe.
A short time ago, the trains of the new $4.5 billion Metro Line had their first outing. This project is a fantastic engineering feat, which the bloggers and You Tube fans should be gabbing about instead of rumour mongering, which for the most part have no proper foundation.
Take the Metro and the two Palm Islands and I think it is safe to say that not since the time of the building of the Pyramids has man made such an incredible mark on the desert sands.
So the loans, all of which are being paid back on time, were not in vain. Dubai has been preparing over the past few decades for a future without oil revenues. Dubai is not as well endowed with the brown gold as many of the rest of the states in the Gulf region and has been steadfastly building a future for its sons and daughters. Tourism was chosen as one of the main industries for Dubai. And what better choice? It is environmentally friendly and requires lots of people to care for the visitors in hotels, restaurants, shops, transportation and at the airports.
New schools, training colleges and universities continue to be built and turn out well educated young nationals able to lead the country into the next oil-less decades.
Visitors are being attracted by mammoth shopping malls, or projects like Ski Dubai with its indoor snow slopes, gigantic aquariums, Burj Dubai the tallest building in the world, a dozen world class golf courses, sporting events like the Dubai World Cup, the richest horse race on the globe (later this month) and not forgetting the friendliness, the hospitality and generosity of the nationals, which has not changed in the past 50 years despite the huge influx of so many expatriates of various nationalities.
As soon as a visitors lands at the new Dubai International Airport Terminal 3, he/she will realise this is a unique destination. Not only is the new Terminal bursting with attractions such as a hotel, lounges with spas and business centres, but the procedures are top class and efficient and the staff is courteous and polite, quite an achievement for Dubai to succeed within a few minutes of arrival.
The immigration and customs officials greet the arriving visitors with a smile making people feel welcome to this country - when was the last time that happened to you on your travels?
Dubai has prospered because it is not afraid of innovation and will continue to develop through this gloom and doom era and because it always seems to be coming up with new ideas!
Yet another airport at Jebel AIi! Do they really need this? Yes, they will by the time it is fully operational around 2016.
Yet another shopping mall! Is it necessary? No, but check out the Mall of the Emirates, always chock-a-block with residents and visitors. Another office block being built! Yes, the Emirate still aims to attract companies to relocate to Dubai. Will some motorists switch over to the new Metro Line and help to solve the traffic problems? Wait and see, it is certainly an audacious plan and usually in Dubai such plans seem to work.
That gurgling sound you can hear in Dubai is not the bubble bursting; it is a mixture of the swish of the new Metro trains, the tills at the supermarkets, the breeze swaying the palms at the new landlocked lakes and the soft padding of camel hooves on desert safaris.
SPEAKING OUT by Jonna Simon
