Many of
us might not know this, but Dubai is an Emirate of United Arab Emirates. It’s
one out of 7 emirates of the country. So,
why draw the world with 300 million cubic meters of sand? Well, why drive
million dollar police cars, or build a tower so tall you can watch the sunset,
ride to the top, and watch it again, why build a ski resort in the middle of
the dessert? It probably sounds
familiar: A country discovers its sitting on black gold and its royalty becomes
unbelievable rich, while the average person can barely eat. Dubai does have
oil, but today it only accounts for less than one percent of its GDP. What
looks like pure extravagance is actually pure marketing genius, attracting 14
million international visitors a year, who spend more than any other city in
the world, 65% more, even, than New York or London. The Burj Al Arab hotel, for
example, only has 200 rooms, each two stories tall. It wasn't built to make a
profit, but draw travelers with deep pockets.
Geography
is the recipe for civilization - it decide where people can go and what they
can build, That's what makes Dubai so remarkable, it's the last place you'd
want to found your city. The obvious reason is climate, which ranges from arid
dessert to unbearably arid dessert. The entire 3.2 million square kilometer
peninsula lacks a single natural river. 98.8% of Dubai's water has to be lumped
from the Persian Gulf and desalinated. Okay, so terrible climate, plus poor
agriculture plus no source of water, equals major international city?! But Dubai
rises above all these difficulties to become a super city.
The reason behind the progressive development of the state can
be due to the western methods that have been adopted by Dubai rulers.
In the early 1980’s, it
was understood that Dubai would not be able to last
long in the competitive race if the focus was only given to oil resources. Thus
foundations were laid for investments in real estate that are now the major
backbone of the Arab economy. In the year 2000, the majority of property
development started taking place in the vicinity. This gave a fresh impetus to
the economy and literally led to a boom. In the year 2000, the world saw the
opening of the Dubai Internet
City. This invited global clients from all arenas and helped Dubai's businesses
to leverage. The InfoTech hub was completely tax free and attracted lots of
investors. The 2003 boom led many foreign investors to notice the emirates and
then plan to invest there. The best part about the property rules at that was
that property owners could only own their respective properties for a period of
ninety-nine years and hence there was nothing called freehold rule.
It was
during this time that major buildings like the Burj Khalifa constructed by
Emaar properties, Dubai
Marina, Jumeirah Village and Burj Al-Arab, the World’s most
expensive hotel and other such projects came underway. In today’s world Dubai
is totally independent of oil and is the center of attraction for many of the
investors across the world. It seems Dubai successfully overcome through the
old tradition of oil wells in the Middle East.