Why Do Dubai Down – Its going Up
Why do so many want to do Dubai down?
It is far less vulgar than many cities – most notably Las Vegas and yet where are the criticisms there?
The opening of the tallest building in the world has been met by more sneering comments about Dubai.
Is the Burj Dubai so more outrageous than the excesses of the Empire State Building or Petronas Towers of their time?
Why Dubai?
What almost all appear to fail to see is that there is a raison d’etre for Dubai as a regional centre. Dubai is now the commercial, business, transport and tourism centre and fast becoming the major health care and education centre for a population of over 1.5 billion. Name another city that can compete in a region that spreads from the Arabian Gulf / Other Middle Eastern from Iran to Jordan / Indian Subcontinent / and North Africa and even for Southern Africa and certain parts of Eastern Europe. Airliness operating flights to Dubai saw a niche and has used its limited oil wealth to take advantage and provide something beyond oil for the future. Singapore was borne out of its strategic location and political fortitude as a regional centre for the Near Far East serving as a centre for such countries as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. Dubai’s reach as a regional hub is hugely greater.
No other city in its region can compete with its infrastructure and dynamism. Many major multi nationals and other companies now use Dubai as their business base. So yes it went too far too fast with certain excesses and is paying some consequences. There has for sure been great vision but the country is but 38 years old and mistakes have been made. Surely, balanced observers can see that its strategy is
fundamentally sound and will in the medium term be a continued success.
Who gets is right all the time? The country is only 38 years old.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi together will develop further to become the Regional hub of the vast region they have only just began to serve. Analysts will soon get over the current hyperbole and start to realise the future opportunities.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 4:53 pm and is filed under dubai. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
