jim wrote:I don't understand who is going to go to Dubai. They talk about it as a global travel destination, yet I just don't see Americans and Europeans going. Am I off base here?
I think Europeans do....we have some German friends who honeymooned there and absolutely loved it. They went there because other German friends raved about it......like you (and others), it doesn't interest me at all. I'd much rather go to Italy, France or Greece, to name a few.....
Germans are just getting sick of getting kicked around in Europe. I'm sort of serious - I've detected a definite anti-German sentiment in the places I have been to in Europe - France in particular. I'm not sure what is up with that, or even if what I perceived is real.
I think that's correct. It's definitely true in Italy as well. I think it has mainly to do with the resentment toward what Germany has done to the continent the past 100 years (2 world wars). I was with a friend in Sicily who is American but of German descent (and he looks it) and we'd walk along the beach and some guys would be muttering "Tedesco" under their breath with a snarly look on their face. But when I've gone there with Chinese friends, the people are as warm and inviting as can be. Also the German stereotype personality is a little colder than much of the rest of European cultures, especially Mediterranean culture, so maybe it's a bit of this difference that leads to some of the prejudice. And Germans can be awfully blunt sometimes, which to other cultures not used to this, can be misinterpreted as rude.
The anti-German thing was very obvious to me in Cinque Terra in Italy where there were large numbers of German tourists. To be honest though, I didn't think Italians in general were all that warm and fuzzy with Americans (us) either. And, taking it one step further - Italians didn't seem to be all that friendly with Italians either. Lots of screaming in that country.
I would guess a place like Dubai probably falls over itself for anyone making you feel welcome there.
Freed Roger wrote:Hey Clem -how hot is it in Dubai? I'm assuming it gets hotter than Vegas. Vegas is desert, but its high desert -thus its not always scorching.
because you mention its not a place for pedestrians to enjoy looking at skyscrapers (like a downtown Chicago or NY etc) Thus I'm wondering if the mega-planners for Dubai just figured walking around in the heat isn't something they figured their tourist demographic would want to do.
For a few months (May to Sept) it's scorching... like 90+ to 100+ degrees. But for some months it's actually pretty pleasant (Nov-Mar), and you need a jacket at night and even some days. It's not really typical desert because it's on the sea, so there is also a good deal of humidity (not the typical dry heat you associate with desert). I'm sure that was part of their thinking, but honestly I don't think they did a great deal of planning at the beginning. That's why the traffic situation is so bad. They have also spread the city out considerably making it a pretty heavy trek from one area to another. They are now building a subway but it will still be several years before it's operational.
But in general, I think you're right. Most tourists in Dubai go to their hotel and usually stay there most of the time except when they take a taxi to one of the shopping centers. The hotels are spectacular and usually have 5 or 10 quality restaurants in them. They are also often attached to shopping centers. So you can go to Dubai and spend most of the time indoors at your hotel complex. For me, that's very unappealilng, but i'm sure for many it's perfectly fine.
phinstd wrote:Clement is right, Dubai is very much a center for Finance and commerce, with close to half of their active living population from foreign descent. Mostly European and Asian...
It's much more than 50% though. According to the most recent census (2006, wikipedia), only 17% of the 1.4 million people in Dubai are Emaratis. The remaining 83% are mostly Asian (and among those, mostly South Asian though also quite a large number of Filipinos and Chinese too). Westerners only represent about 3% of the population. They tend to be in rather high-paying positions, whereas the Asian expats are spread pretty much across the whole gamut of sectors from construction workers, food & beverage, and hotel staff, to professionals in business and finance. About 1 million of the 1.4 million people are men, which means that the vast majority of expats who move to Dubai to work are men. (probably because of the huge numbers of jobs in the construction sector).
The population and demographics are roughly the same in Abu Dhabi.
jim wrote:I don't understand who is going to go to Dubai. They talk about it as a global travel destination, yet I just don't see Americans and Europeans going. Am I off base here?
I think Europeans do....we have some German friends who honeymooned there and absolutely loved it. They went there because other German friends raved about it......like you (and others), it doesn't interest me at all. I'd much rather go to Italy, France or Greece, to name a few.....
Germans are just getting sick of getting kicked around in Europe. I'm sort of serious - I've detected a definite anti-German sentiment in the places I have been to in Europe - France in particular. I'm not sure what is up with that, or even if what I perceived is real.
I think that's correct. It's definitely true in Italy as well. I think it has mainly to do with the resentment toward what Germany has done to the continent the past 100 years (2 world wars). I was with a friend in Sicily who is American but of German descent (and he looks it) and we'd walk along the beach and some guys would be muttering "Tedesco" under their breath with a snarly look on their face. But when I've gone there with Chinese friends, the people are as warm and inviting as can be. Also the German stereotype personality is a little colder than much of the rest of European cultures, especially Mediterranean culture, so maybe it's a bit of this difference that leads to some of the prejudice. And Germans can be awfully blunt sometimes, which to other cultures not used to this, can be misinterpreted as rude.
The anti-German thing was very obvious to me in Cinque Terra in Italy where there were large numbers of German tourists. To be honest though, I didn't think Italians in general were all that warm and fuzzy with Americans (us) either. And, taking it one step further - Italians didn't seem to be all that friendly with Italians either. Lots of screaming in that country.
I would guess a place like Dubai probably falls over itself for anyone making you feel welcome there.
Must be a mutual dislike between Germans-Italians.....the Germans vacation in Italy quite a bit and the Italians camp out at Oktoberfest every year for the entire 18 days (or whatever it is). I know the Germans hate to see the Italian convoy of campers headed their way every fall....
jim wrote:I don't understand who is going to go to Dubai. They talk about it as a global travel destination, yet I just don't see Americans and Europeans going. Am I off base here?
I think Europeans do....we have some German friends who honeymooned there and absolutely loved it. They went there because other German friends raved about it......like you (and others), it doesn't interest me at all. I'd much rather go to Italy, France or Greece, to name a few.....
Germans are just getting sick of getting kicked around in Europe. I'm sort of serious - I've detected a definite anti-German sentiment in the places I have been to in Europe - France in particular. I'm not sure what is up with that, or even if what I perceived is real.
I think that's correct. It's definitely true in Italy as well. I think it has mainly to do with the resentment toward what Germany has done to the continent the past 100 years (2 world wars). I was with a friend in Sicily who is American but of German descent (and he looks it) and we'd walk along the beach and some guys would be muttering "Tedesco" under their breath with a snarly look on their face. But when I've gone there with Chinese friends, the people are as warm and inviting as can be. Also the German stereotype personality is a little colder than much of the rest of European cultures, especially Mediterranean culture, so maybe it's a bit of this difference that leads to some of the prejudice. And Germans can be awfully blunt sometimes, which to other cultures not used to this, can be misinterpreted as rude.
The anti-German thing was very obvious to me in Cinque Terra in Italy where there were large numbers of German tourists. To be honest though, I didn't think Italians in general were all that warm and fuzzy with Americans (us) either. And, taking it one step further - Italians didn't seem to be all that friendly with Italians either. Lots of screaming in that country.
I would guess a place like Dubai probably falls over itself for anyone making you feel welcome there.
Must be a mutual dislike between Germans-Italians.....the Germans vacation in Italy quite a bit and the Italians camp out at Oktoberfest every year for the entire 18 days (or whatever it is). I know the Germans hate to see the Italian convoy of campers headed their way every fall....
I've never been to Germany, so I can't comment on Germans. But I'll just say that after 8 days in Italy, I was ready to get the hell out of there.
mikechamp wrote:For all of Dubai's wonders, these two might be "wonder"ing what was so terribly wrong with two drunk people simply hooking up on the beaches of Dubai.
What a bunch of quacks. I mean, I understand not having sex on public beaches, fair enough. But....illegal to hold hands, have to wear robes, 3 months in jail....what's wrong with these people? It's like those right of those right of the religous right run that place. Good grief.
I wonder how long it'll take to eclipse the Burj Khalifa with an even greater skyscraper. There are speculations its going to take a long time to reach its former projected occupancy.
I'm sort of serious - I've detected a definite anti-German sentiment in the places I have been to in Europe - France in particular. I'm not sure what is up with that, or even if what I perceived is real.
