How Dubai Became Rich Without Inadequate OIL?!

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.