Lessons For Dubai & Future Course Of Action

By Author: William King
Total Articles: 365
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Dubai has been in the limelight for over a year now. A lot of water has since passed under the bridge. Many say Dubai won't be able to come out of this crunch for quite sometime, while others call it an artificial oasis which might never be able to gain stronger status. It is the same media which was crying for Dubai's disproportionate growth and now is declaring it all as a forged presentation of something not in existence. Dubai tried to diversify into tourism mainly after oil. The purpose was to reduce its dependency on oil only and make it otherwise a memorable place to visit. People say there was nothing to it as all had been built in thin air. Well that might be acceptable for a mere argument. You cannot just say it like that when you yourself were there at the same vary place where it all took place. No body tried to look into the factors that led this happening other then the debt crisis. It was a tourism attraction. And the world recession didn't allow such luxuries after so many people went out of job. Unfortunately, no one mentioned about that. No one talks about US where the hit of recession has brought unemployment ...
... above 10% and that even crossing the projected figures. Why do the people forget about the projects that would be completed in 2010? Why don't they remember that there is no place in the world right now which is attracting any form of investment? Why don't they want to admit that there are many things in Dubai that aren't anywhere else in the world?

Dubai's decision to increase its accommodation capacity was fairly a right one. There are places in the world that went to shambles after crisis and still remain as tall as they can like Japan for instance. One can argue about the timing of that capacity being built by Dubai. It surely wasn't the right time for doing that thing, but no one knew that Uncle SAM would plunge the world into recession. However, there is no doubt that originally there existed sufficient demand to justify that kind of exploding growth. Dubai is confident in its ability to resurface and retain itself the way it was. They although have lessons to learn from this whole adventure. See the world's leading countries sunk deep into debts but still sailing smoothly (with the exception of recession as a global phenomenon).

Here's what will make a great sense to work out things and help make Dubai as one of the roaring economies of GCC. Diversification and not concentration is the order of the day. First of all Dubai should not focus on tourism and oil alone. It should start thinking of other ways to attract investments as well. Second thing is that it should slowly shift its emphasis from localized to foreign direct investments that would help it grow its investments overseas in tough times at home. Third, it should focus on creating long term jobs unlike those created out of the stimulus package in the US (which some argue would last for some time). These jobs might include establishing trading zones, industrial zones and other such investments that would automatically generate demand for their real estate. Building real estate can only result in temporary demand of the workers of any class for the real estate work itself. You need buildings for people to not only live but also have jobs for getting them fed on sustainable basis. Dubai has done a lot to get itself out of this recession; however it should turn this lemon into lemonade by focusing on projects that would ensure its economy and population's long term sustainable survival.

William King is the director of Pakistan Real Estate & Pakistan Property Portal: http://www.zameen.com/ , UAE Dubai Property & Dubai Real Estate Properties Portal: http://www.bayut.com/ and Property & Real Estate Directory & Classifieds: http://www.propertydir.com/. He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers, entrepreneurs and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements.