Recession Receding Slowly in Dubai

During my recent visit to Dubai about 2 weeks ago it was quite evident that just like many countries, including India, signs of recession are clearly there - but not as severe as during my previous visit to Dubai 3 years ago, when it was in the grip of severe recession.

At that most, construction of planned skyscrapers had come to a standstill and you could see half constructed tall buildings with overhead cranes not working.

In fact, major construction giants including Emaar, the government owned company , and many others had sacked workers including top level executives.

Although the Dubai Metro was started on schedule on 09/09/09, when I went in early 2010 only few metro stations were operational, and many were still under construction. Even operational stations wore a deserted look and there were few passengers on the trains when I took a ride.

This time however there was cautious optimism as most tall buildings have been completed but metro rates have doubled and they have reduced the frequency of trains. As a result the metro is jampacked like Mumbai local trains, with hardly any breathing space.

Food inflation is also dramatic but the only comforting factor is that petrol is available at 1.5 dirhams a litre or Rs.22/litre (1 dirham = Rs.15 approx). Despite this there was a flood of tourists, mainly from developed countries like Europe, China and USA.

There was so much of demand for tourist attractions like Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, that it was difficult to get tickets to go to the observation deck on the 124^th storey of this 165 floor building. That too, even though it was open from 9am to 9 pm with half hour slots, and tickets as expensive as 130 AED (Dirhams), which roughly amounts to Rs.2000 per head.

It was difficult to get tickets even 15 days in advance and if you wanted a last minute ticket it officially costs 400 AED but even then availability was not certain. I have been to Dubai 4 times in the last 10 years and each time I find there is a new tourist attraction. This time around there was a new cable car ride which was 2.5km long, but unfortunately it was closed due to maintenance.

Apart from that they were in process of constructing a 15 km long tramway, all along which there were street cafes like in Paris or Melbourne. This street was called the Marina Walk and at the night time all these cafes, which are openair were jampacked with tourists and this Marina walk was a lovely street along the under construction tramway. These trams are not being built for transport but essentially as tourist attractions.

Also the Atlantis Mall built around a huge aquarium inside has been one of the top tourist destinations for the last few years. Last time I went there, a good part of this aquarium, which has huge fishes, big & small, for which the entry was free and even the free portion of the aquarium was breathtaking. The entrance to the paid portion called the Lost city was around 60 AED. But now the ticket for the Lost City has increased to 100 AED and the portion for which entry was free, now has a ticket of 30 AED per head. Yet I saw large groups of Chinese tourists buying tickets and trooping in. In a span of just 20 minutes hundreds of people paid to see this marvel.

Another tourist attraction they have added is a zoo, which is spread over 40 to 50 acres with Giraffes, Lions and wild animals from across the world.

That’s not all - besides tourism, Dubai is building the Medicity and Knowledge City, where it has already invited universities like Cambridge to attract students from Asia, mainly India and China. Medicity plains to have the best healthcare facilities.

But these are signs of revenue generation and while entry level jobs have begun to be available, top level jobs are hard to find. Even these entry level jobs are with reduced salaries and longer working hours.

The recovery though slow by Dubai standards, it has been much faster than in India.