Dramatically different

Dubai/Abu Dhabi. UAE's tourism sector in 2011 would have looked much different hadn't a frustrated Tunisian, Muhammad Bouazizi, set himself on fire on December 17 last year. His self-immolation sparked what has now been dubbed the "Arab Spring", a wave of protests that has unseated leaders in several countries. The Arab awakening has also unleashed tourists into the safety of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Staff relocations from neighboring Bahrain, which had its share of demonstrations, helped Dubai, which has been competing with Bahrain and Doha to maintain its title as a financial, trade and tourism hub for the Gulf region. An update about the hotel industry in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Dubai. "I can’t tell you how bad it was," Joe Sita, president of IFA Hotel Investments, the asset management unit of Kuwait-based property developer of mixed-use tourism projects IFA Hotels & Resorts, told participants at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference that was recently held in Dubai. He wasn’t taking about the impact of the unrest on the region’s hotel business, but recounting his ordeal last year in trying to secure financing for a Fairmont hotel being built in Dubai’s man-made Palm Jumeirah Island. Banks are still reluctant to lend, liquidity remains tight and real estate investment index says that Arabian markets are still semi-transparent and opaque.

Dubai. It is difficult to convince tourists to come to the Middle East and North Africa region right now, when daily protests and clashes in various cities are leaving a heavy death toll and events are set to change the political landscape of the region for good. An equally challenging task is talking about hotel development in the region in a conference and not surprisingly, organizers, as well as speakers at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference in Dubai held April 30-May 2, tried to put as much of a positive spin on the topic.

Dubai. The Arabian world has become a shade more sober since the last year but, indeed, remains optimistic. This week, tourism professionals from all over the world once again flowed into the "Arabian Travel Market" in Dubai; the trade show halls hummed from the first hour. Dubai is still the shining star of the United Arab Emirates, but the region is in motion. Qatar displayed a massive presence everywhere – from the large-scale advertising in and beyond the trade show up to the sponsorship of the new multimedia information centre. The hottest trade show news also came from Qatar. The small emirate clearly signalled: Now it is involved in the determining regions and business segments – and as the richest country in the world, is also establishing still new accents in the international expansion in parallel while others are struggling with their debt. And likewise, the remaining emirates and countries of the Middle East are vigorously polishing their tourist profiles with new hotel facilities or ecological projects.