Introduction
Dubai is the second largest and the most populous emirates of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). Other emirates that make up the U.A.E. are Abu Dhabi, the capital, Ajman, Ras Al-Khaimah, Sharjah, Fujairah and Umm- Al Qaiwain. The United Arab Emirates is located in the Arabian Gulf, southwest Asia. Dubai is located on the banks of the Dubai Creek, covering a total area of approximately 4,200 km2. Currently, the population of Dubai stands at 1.37 million people. Oil, international trade, and tourism are the main economic stays of Dubai contributing approximately 7% of the GDP of the United Arab Emirates.
Main body
Dubai has an arid, subtropical climate with occasional rainfall during falls and winter, with sunny and clear blue skies the most part of the year. Temperature ranges from a low of 10 degrees centigrade to a high of 41 degrees centigrade.
The government of Dubai led by the current ruler His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum is committed to turn Dubai in to a tourist hub. There is a much political support in this effort. This has been demonstrated by development of infrastructure like roads network, modern harbor and airports, which has been facilitating the realization of this goal. More commercial and residential houses have been built to accommodate more tourists.
Accessibility of Dubai is easy with direct flights from major cities in Asia, Africa and Europe. Currently, Dubai international airport is ranked among the world top 10 airports with a handling capacity of 16 million passengers per year. With addition of the third terminal, the airport is set to handle 70 million passengers per year.
Tourism in an area or a country has many impacts, both negative and positive on people lives, environment and economy. In Dubai, tourism have its fair share of negative and positive impacts; it is important however to look at various tourist attractions which are found in Dubai, for easy understanding of the resulting impacts.
One of the major tourist attractions in Dubai is the Dubai shopping Festival which is held one per year for a whole month. The festival was started in 1996 and has since been attracting people from allover the world. During the festival, people enjoy reduced shopping prices and prizes, great sporting events and fantastic fireworks. Dubai Summer Surprise is yet another event held between June and August that attract many tourists from across the globe. During the events, tourists enjoy cultural surprises, a taste of local cuisines and food festival held at the shopping malls.
As a center for international fair and major technological events, Dubai World Trade Centre has become another major tourist attraction. The centre hosts the annual Gulf Information Technology Exhibition and other major events that attracts tourist from all over the world. Dubai Air Show is another spectacular show held after every two years. During the show, major carrier and airplane makers exhibit their latest products in the event that attracts major players from across the globe. The Middle East Motor show is also another annual event showcasing the latest technology and future designs of vehicles from all over the world. Dubai Museum, built in 1799, heritage village, diving village are other important spots within Dubai that attract a lot of tourists.
Desert safari and adventures using camels and/or off road trucks is another attraction that brings in tourist from allover the world. To add to the thrill, tourist participates in diving and snookering, motor cross, skydiving and mountaineering. The palm Island is an ongoing project on the coast of Dubai, which will see development of residential, commercial and retails buildings aimed at uplifting Dubai as a premier tourist destination.
Over the past few years, the economy of Dubai has been growing at a steady rate, fueled in part by tourist dollars. This is one positive impact of tourism development in Dubai. Given the linkages between different sectors of economy, the remarkable economic growth of Dubai has also contributed to the growth of tourism. Of all the other emirates in U.A.E, Dubai has received the lion share of promotion as a tourist destination. Most festivals, exhibitions, conferences and trade shows are held in Dubai. Sport tourism has also had a good share in the tourism market with the Dubai International Arabian horse Championship, Dubai world cup, Dubai Tennis Championships and Dubai International Jazz festival.
When in Dubai, tourist contributes to the economy through shopping in the numerous malls that cater for all customers needs. The recent opening of Mall of Emirates has redefined how shopping is done; with over 250 shops, ski centre and cinemas halls. It is important to note here that Dubai is a free port city where goods business is done tax free. The government and the people of Dubai benefit indirectly from the service industry which includes hotels, transportation etc.
Tourist facilities like resorts and hotels are other sources of revenues offering comfort and hospitality. Burj Al Arab all suite hotel stands at 321 feet’s and is recognized as one of the best hotel in the world. The hotel is a major attraction to high end business men visiting Dubai. The government of Dubai has major stakes in most of the real estate, hotels and tourist resorts which act as a source of government revenues.
Tourism is a one source of foreign currency for Dubai, stimulating and accelerating growth of the emirates. Increased foreign currency reserve in the Dubai economy has contributed to stabilizing of United Arab Emirates economy.
25 years ago, Dubai was a desert with just a few sheep, horses and camels. Today, Dubai is a world trade centre thanks to the oil reserves, tourism and trade. Dubai has some of the best network of roads and airports. With the growth of tourism, there have increased employment opportunities for local people and foreigners from allover the world. Hotels, taxis, nightclubs, airport services, real estate management are some of the sector that have been opened up largely by the tourism industries and are providing stable employments to many people.
Construction of infrastructures cost the government of Dubai a lot of money. Money is sourced from other sectors of economy like oil to construct roads and airports Return from such investment may take long to recover and get real benefit.
With all the attractions and the valuable economics contribution that tourist has on Dubai, the fast and uncontrolled growth has numerous negative effects. With the rapid growth comes environmental degradation and loss of cultural and traditional identity. Tourist put a lot of stress on the ecosystem.
With increased number of people visiting Dubai, traffic on the road has increased. The number of people on the streets of Dubai searching for leisure and entertainment on a daily basis is rising at a steady rate. The opening up of Dubai to real estate developers and buyers has also led to increase in the number of people visiting Dubai. Main highways in Dubai are now more congested than before leading to loss of work hours on the road.
With increase in number of tourist visiting Dubai, the demand for local commodities has risen leading to increase in prices of basic commodities. This has lead to increase in the cost of living for the local people. As the demand for building material increases with increased construction of more tourist facilities, the price for the cost of building materials increases. The Local people spending power is limited as they are now competing with foreign investors. Most of the indigenous inhabitant of Dubai have been forced by circumstances to migrate to other places as the cost of land nears tourist dominated area like Dubai coast, have risen and the land market is now dominated by foreigners leading to erosion of economic opportunities for the local people.
Another negative impact of tourism development in Dubai is pollution and distraction to the wildlife. The construction of the Palm Island on the coast of Dubai has negative effects to the marine life. During the construction heavy equipment are used in dredging the sand and blasting of rocks. This has resulted to death of many important sea animals like whales, dolphins and sharks, with a huge number migrating to less disturbed areas. The extensive block paving to create along the coast has destroyed natural habitats for turtles which relies on the shoreline for nesting.
Increased sporting activities like anchoring, sport fishing, scuba diving, yachting and snookering in the sea have resulted in the destruction of the coral reef, mangroves, hinterland forest and lagoons. These activities have many negative effects to the ecosystem like pollution and death of important sea organism.
Noise, littering, sewage release, solid waste, oil and chemicals and noxious gas emissions are some of the pollutions associated with tourism in Dubai. Increased rise in tourist mobility by air, road and rail has direct effect on air and noise pollution. Air transportation accounts for over 50 percent of total air pollution. The continued increase in the number of international tourist visiting Dubai is not making the situation any better. Carbon dioxide emission from tourist transport facilities like tour van, buses and off-road vehicles contribute to local air pollution. This pollution contributes significantly to global warming and photochemical pollution. Noise from cars, off road tourist vehicles, airplanes, and buses are a source of human stress and wildlife distress leading to alteration of natural patterns like mating and feeding.
Waste disposal is a serious problem in Dubai especially in areas with high concentration of tourist. Littering has lead to degradation of physical appearance of scenic beauty and shoreline. Extinction of marine wildlife has been attributed largely due to waste disposal in water bodies. Tourist visiting Dubai generates a lot of waste which they don’t have the capacity to carry along or dispose off properly. In such cases, the waste is left behind in those sites where tourist visit leading to environmental degradation.
Construction of airports, roads, accommodation facilities, restaurants, water supplies and other recreational facilities in Dubai have leads to soil erosion. Currently, over 50% of Dubai labor force is engaged in real estate development to cater for residential and accommodation need of visitors. This has resulted to increase in sand mining which put undue pressure on the land.
Various influences from tourism can bring about change or loss of values and cultural identity especially when local cultures and festival are re-structured to conform to the expectations of tourists. In Dubai, the demands for entertainment and arts have lead to commodification of important cultures leading to loss of a community values and identity.
Due to integration of different people with diverse ethnic, religion, prosperity level, lifestyles and values instances of culture clash are common in Dubai. The level of adjustment by both the visitors and the locals in Dubai is usually resulting to cultural clash. Integration of people at different level of earning is also another source of cultural clash in Dubai. Those who works in tourist hotels tend to compare themselves with the visitors resulting to cultural clash.
The level of crime in Dubai has been very low and manageable requiring just a few unarmed police on the street just to maintain law and order. With increased number of tourist and business men visiting Dubai, security concern has increased. The government is now under obligation to provide security to the big number of people visiting Dubai on a daily basis. This has led to increased pressure on the security force.
Cases of prostitution were unheard of in Dubai and the other six emirates some few years ago. The situation is changing slowly for worse and the number of commercial sex worker targeting tourist is on the rise. Packaged sex tour is growing at a rapid rate and if the situation is not checked, prostitution is likely to bring society decay in Dubai.
Conclusion
Tourism in Dubai is one of the fastest growing sectors of economy. With fast growth come both positive and negative impacts on the economy, people’s lives and the environment. To ensure continued maximum benefits from tourist, authority in Dubai must develop sustainable management strategy that will reduce the negative impacts and increase the positive impacts. This includes the use of ecological resources in development of tourism and at the same time maintaining crucial environmental process that helps to conserve biodiversity. There is also need to respect and conserve the social and cultural authenticity and the heritage of the local communities and ensuring long-term practical economic process that provides income to all parties.
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