Words About Things

Dubai is known for its love of over-the-top luxury and conspicuous consumption, with new buildings and shopping malls being built as fast as the emerging economy can muster. Dubai is thought to be home to around a quarter of the world’s construction cranes, a potent symbol of the growth of the richest of the UAE’s emirates. That fact that Dubai built the world’s tallest building whilst many countries where trying to fend of a recession shows that they have some serious spending power.

The luxury super malls Dubai is famed for are reaching the end of their popularity, whilst they will still operate developers are making moves away from luxury retail. A decline in sales figures in 2009 has forced a re-think, retailers need to react quickly in order to capture the attention (and money) of shoppers. A drop in spending power caused by the global economic crisis has forced those in Dubai to shop smarter by looking for bargains and being less impulsive.

A recent report by real estate services firm Jones Lang Lasalle sums it up well:

Consumer shopping budgets have been reduced significantly. This represents a shift away from luxury driven retail. For retailers and mall owners, there is now heightened competition to aggressively capture shoppers’ interests and disposable income. For the remainder of 2010 and beyond, Dubai’s retail market is likely to see an increased emphasis on competitive pricing, creative marketing programs, convenience shopping and value for money… This trend is likely to result in the repositioning of both existing and new retail centers away from the previous focus on luxury brands towards value merchandising.

The 20% drop in retail sales in 2009 is expected to be regained over the coming year thanks to the new approach. A slower pace of expansion and smaller, more localized, shopping facilities should appeal to a larger segment of the population. It is important however that Dubai maintains its image as a place of excess, its reputation as a top tourist location depends on it. After all what is more likely to make you book a flight to Dubai, a super-mall with a ski slopes and a shark-filled aquarium or a budget shopping center like the one in your hometown? Dubai needs to find a balance between catering for the wealthy, the average man on the street and the tourist.

Dubai continues its attempt to put itself on the cultural map by hosting an International Film Festival this week. Wednesday sees the launch of the 6th DIFF (Dubai International Film Festival) which aims to “Lead in building cultural understanding through creative achievement in film”. This years event will feature 168 films from 55 countries including 13 international premieres, It will be held at Madinat Arena at the Madinat Jumeirah resort.

Queen Noor of Jordan will be providing the Keynote Speech at this year’s festival which is being attended by a host of film stars such as Matt Dillon, George Clooney, Christina Ricci, Omar Sharif and Mandy Moore.

“We are honoured to have Her Majesty Queen Noor with us this year, and we look forward to a ‘full house’, given her status as an inspirational role model across the Arab world and globally admired as a humanitarian. We are also grateful to the three industry representatives, who will also provide a forum for lively discussion.”

An important part of the event is the Cultural Bridge programme which “explores ways to unite all nationalities, which is exemplified in the core slogan of the festival – ‘Bridging Cultures, Meeting Minds’”. Other satellite events include the Dubai film festival charity gala which will feature an auction to raise money and awareness for an HIV/Aids charity.

Despite the recent drops in share value Dubai continues to spend heavily in order to gain international attention. The Film Festival is just one of many events this year which aimed to portray Dubai as a main player in the international culture scene. Other events encouraging people to hop on flights to Dubai include the Dubai Sound City Festival and Art Dubai.

I know it’s a bit old but this video still manages to amaze me. I’m not particularly scarred of heights but sometimes a video manages to make me feel nauseousness (for example this one of the El Camino Del Rey trail). The video in question features Roger Federer and Andre Agassi playing a game of tennis on top of the 1050 foot high Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai.

The Burj Al Arab features a helipad on top of the 28 double-storey floors so that rich guests to travel to and from the hotel in style. The hotel in on a man made island 920 ft off shore and is otherwise only accessible via a purpose built bridge. You can see the hotel from some flights to Dubai, be sure to keep an eye out for any brave tennis stars.

Personally I wouldn’t be able to play Tennis in that situation, I would be clinging to the floor crying. As you can see from the video it can get quite windy on top of the hotel and there is no wall around the helipad. All it would take is a strong gust of wind and a misplaced foot and it would be game, set and match.