Within hours of arriving first timers soon usually stop mouthing trite phrases like ‘but that is impossible’ or ‘surely they couldn’t’. In go-getting ultra ambitious Dubai nothing is impossible and they surely could. Think lush championship golf courses in the desert, massive manmade islands in the shape of the world and ski slopes in one of the most arid corners of the planet.
Dubai is no longer looking over its shoulder at ‘The West’; it is far too busy showing what an Arabic emirate can do on its own with what many observers are increasingly viewing as an insight into the future of cities the world over.
It is difficult to believe today that less than a century ago Dubai was little more than a desert-strewn wildscape where Bedouin tribes roamed the sands and a huddle of settlers crowded around the banks of the lifeblood creek. Even as Europe embarked on the mass industrial destruction of WWI, Dubai still had no running water, no real roads and the main mode of transport was the camel.
Dubai first grew as a hub on the ancient trading route between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley and, by the 19th century, a small fishing village had taken root at the mouth of Dubai Creek. The village was inhabited by the Bani Yas tribe, who were led by the Maktoum family, the dynasty that still presides over Dubai today.
The city’s remarkable success story really began in the 1960s. During the process of shaking off the shackles of British colonial rule, oil was struck in 1966 and Dubai has never looked back. Since the 1960s, the population has mushroomed to almost 1.5 million and now an ever-growing number of hotels welcome in the temporary expat workers and tourists who help propel the economy.
Indeed, only around a quarter of the emirate’s population are actually ethnically Emirati in a population mixture that has to be one of the world’s most cosmopolitan. This diversity discourages any real ethnic tensions and while conflict might rage further north in Iraq, Dubai so far has been trouble free.
Dubai’s evolution has been dramatic, with sweeping skyscrapers and gleaming office blocks rising up everywhere. The rulers of Dubai have a penchant for grand projects - one year the world’s tallest tower (Burj Arab), the next a string of offshore manmade islands (the three Palms and the World) and now Dubailand, a massive project that will bring over 45 major projects to a massive leisure oasis in the desert.
Dubai seems to know no end to its ambition, nor does it have any inhibitions, with more grandiose plans slated, such as Dubai Mall (the world’s largest mall) and the colossal new airport at Jebel Ali, which will dwarf the existing one, already the Middle East’s busiest.
Even with regional instability in recent years tourism (now responsible for 30% of the emirate’s GDP) remains remarkably resilient in this tolerant and stable part of the Arab world with more and more tourists flocking to Dubai every year. This is unsurprising really, considering the idyllic climate for much of the year, with constant sunshine and only an average of five days of rainfall annually. During summer, however, the heat is extreme, making trips away from air-conditioned vehicles and buildings unbearable.
The future prospects of the emirate’s tourist industry and its economic situation as a whole may ultimately be governed by developments in the rest of the Middle East, but for now Dubai is a city on the rise and rise.