Thermometers in hand, Dubai opens for tourists amid pandemic

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — From French soccer jerseys to slick online campaigns, Dubai is trumpeting the fact that it reopened for tourism on Tuesday — but what that means for this sheikhdom that relies on the dollars, pounds, rupees and yuan spent by travelers remains in question.

With travel uncertain and the coronavirus still striking nations Dubai relies on for tourists, this city-state wants to begin coaxing people back to its beaches and its cavernous shopping malls. By instilling the idea that Dubai is safe, authorities likely hope to fuel interest in the sheikhdom ahead of its crucial winter months for tourism.


Emirates to put this one-time pearling post on the map. Attractions like the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, and the sail-shaped Burj Al-Arab luxury hotel draw transit passengers out of Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel.

In 2019 alone, Dubai welcomed 16.7 million international guests, up from 15.9 million the year before, according to the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing. The top seven tourist-sending nations were India, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Oman, China, Russia and the U.S. The city’s 741 hotels saw around 75% occupancy for the year, with visitors staying on average 3½ days.

Those travelers also fuel Dubai’s vast restaurant, bar and nightlife scene. Though drinking is illegal in the neighboring emirate of Sharjah and the nations of Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, alcohol sales remain a crucial part of Dubai’s economy.

But even before the pandemic, lower global energy prices, a 30% drop in the city’s real estate market value and trade war fears have led employers to shed staff. The virus outbreak accelerated those losses, especially as Dubai has postponed its Expo 2020, or world’s fair, to next year over the pandemic.

That makes reopening for tourism that much more important, even though Dubai’s top three tourist-feeding countries remain hard-hit by the virus, said Rabia Yasmeen, a consultant at the market-research firm Euromonitor International. Even retail sales are affected by tourism, with some 35% of all revenue coming from tourists, she said.

“It’s good for them to go ahead and announce because there needs to be a call for the confidence to come back,” Yasmeen said. “Someone has to take that step first to show the world.”

And Dubai has, in typical headline-baiting fashion, taken those steps. French football club Olympique Lyonnais, under a sponsorship with Emirates, wore “Dubai Is Open” jerseys at a recent match. Dubai passport controllers have begun putting stickers on foreigners’ passports reading in English and Arabic: “A warm welcome to your second home.”

But there’s a risk, particularly in allowing more travel as the virus stalks other countries. Emirates stopped flying to Pakistan over virus fears. Across the seven sheikhdoms that form the United Arab Emirates, there have been over 50,000 confirmed cases of the virus among the 9 million people living here, with some 40,000 recoveries and 321 deaths.

At Rove Hotels, a new budget chain run by state-linked firms Emaar and Meraas, thermometer-carrying staffers check the temperature of everyone coming inside. Cleaners fog disinfectants over rooms and wipe down tables and chairs. Even a camel statue and an oversized stuffed animal wore a mask. The chain, like others in Dubai, also has sought outside certification over its cleaning routines on top of fulfilling government regulations.

“It’s kind of the icing on the cake to give people comfort that we’re following those standards,” Bridger said.

There are still risks. In order to travel, tourists must take a COVID-19 test within 96 hours of their flight and show the airline a negative result. Otherwise, they will be tested on arrival and required to isolate while awaiting the results, which travelers say typically takes a few hours.

Travelers must also have health insurance covering COVID-19 or sign a declaration agreeing to cover the costs of treatment and isolation.

“A key question comes in: Is the traveler ready to come to Dubai?” Yasmeen asked. “That’s a big question mark.”

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Associated Press writer Fay Abuelgasim in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

AP

Filipino clerk pleads guilty of filming roommates in shower

An unnamed 41-year-old Filipino clerk admitted he installed a GoPro camera to film his Filipino flatmates in the shower, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The clerk pleaded guilty to the charge of molesting and breaching the modesty of his female roommates at the Dubai Court of First Instance last Thursday, Sept. 20, as reported by Gulf News yesterday, Sept. 22. A ruling on the charges will be heard on Oct. 8.


“During questioning, the suspect admitted that he had filmed his flatmates naked in the shower,” an unnamed police corporal told the prosecutors, the report stated. “When asked why he did so, he alleged that he used to film them nude and watch the content to please his sexual desires.”

Apparently, the camera was discovered in the ceiling of their washroom by one of the clerk’s roommates in August. She, unnamed also in the report along with her fellow female roommates, immediately made her discovery known to them. They then decided to take the camera down on their own.

When they removed the camera’s memory card to inspect its content, they stumbled upon videos of themselves naked in the shower, the report said. They confronted the clerk who admitted to installing the said camera.

The clerk assured them that there were no more images and so his roommates decided to forgive him instead of reporting him to the authorities. However, one of his roommates browsed the content of the memory card the day after they spotted the camera and learned that he had been filming them longer than they had initially thought.

It turns out that the clerk started filming them from December 2017, amassing more than 100 videos and images of them naked, the report stated. Because of their findings, they decided to forego their initial resolution to forgive their flatmate, proceeding to file their complaint against him. Kate Matriano/JB

source: globalnation.inquirer.net

Federer, Djokovic to meet in Dubai semifinals

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—While top-seeded Novak Djokovic had a rest day when opponent Mikhail Youzhny became ill and withdrew from their quarterfinal on Thursday, Roger Federer had to play his way into their semifinal date at the Dubai Championships.

The fourth-seeded Federer, who has won this title five times, won his 40th match at the Dubai Championships with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic.

Federer made a slow start, falling behind 2-0 but quickly rebounded by winning the next six games. In the second set, Federer broke serve in the third and fifth games.

“When you play someone for the first time, you never quite know what his best level is or his normal level is,” Federer said. “That’s why you kind of keep pushing on, and that’s also why I guess the score came out the way it did, because I never let go.”

Federer holds a slim 16-15 winning record over Djokovic. The Serbian, however, has beaten Federer in their last three matches, and nine of their last 12 meetings.

“He is in the semis, he’s already played two matches, he’s been here long enough for preparing, and he’s fit enough for anything anyway,” Federer said of Djokovic having a quarterfinal walkover. “Every match you can get away from is a good one.

“For me, it was important also probably not to be out there for three hours. Then it would have been a disadvantage. But I think we’re back on even terms for tomorrow.”

The other semifinal will feature third-seeded Tomas Berdych against seventh-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.

Playing in his fourth quarterfinal of the season, Kohlschreiber’s 6-2, 6-3 win over Tunisian wild card Malik Jazirivictory was his 300th match-win on the ATP Tour.

Berdych holds a 7-1 winning record over Kohlschreiber.

“The record is one thing, but then always the match is going to start from zero,” Berdych said. “I have seen Philipp play here and he’s playing really well.

“He’s playing very aggressive, very confident, too.”

Berdych, who was a finalist last year, fought past fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-3.

Berdych was on a 10-match winning streak, which includes his win at the Rotterdam tournament two weeks ago.

The first set stayed on serve until Tsonga dropped his at love in the 10th game.

The second set was even more tightly contested. In the fifth game, Berdych faced four break points but held on. Tsonga surrendered his serve in the eighth game when he double-faulted on break point.

“It was very close,” Berdych said. “I faced many break points which was very tough, but that was really the key of today’s game, that I managed to save them.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

UAE says online photos require subject’s consent

ABU DHABI — Authorities in the United Arab Emirates are warning social media users that photos of individuals posted online without their consent could lead to jail.

The comments carried Monday in Al Ittihad newspaper say posting photos or video without permission can bring up to six months in prison and fines as high as 500,000 dirhams, nearly $140,000.

The UAE has some of the region’s toughest enforcement on Internet restrictions, but other Gulf countries could follow suit as they harmonize security and telecommunications policies.

The newspaper quotes Interior Ministry official Lt. Col. Salah al-Ghoul as saying the rules apply to social media sites or any “information network.”

In July, Dubai police arrested a man who posted an Internet video of an Emirati beating a South Asian motorist after an apparent traffic altercation.

source: technology.inquirer.net

Recovering Dubai faces billions of maturing debt

DUBAI — As debt-laden Dubai’s economic recovery continues, with grandiose projects making a comeback, the emirate faces some near-term maturity of debt racked up during pre-crisis years but the prospects are not gloomy, analysts say.

Dubai is likely to manage the forthcoming obligations, part of total debt amounting to 100 percent of its gross domestic product, according to Masood Ahmed, the Middle East director at the International Monetary Fund.

“Yes, it can manage,” he told AFP, highlighting the need to be open about the process.

“There is a substantial amount of debt that is coming due in the next few years, and it will be important to manage proactively that process. Information and communication with potential market participants will be a key part of this,” he said.

In recent years, Dubai has restructured billions of dollars of debt, mainly that of its Dubai World group, which rocked global markets in 2009 when it signalled that it could not repay some $26 billion of debt.

“There is likely to be another round of restructuring from 2014 to 2016, when much of Dubai’s borrowing to restructure the first round of debt from 2009 will mature,” said Monica Malik, chief economist at EFG-Hermes Emirates investment bank.

That “includes loans from Abu Dhabi and the UAE central bank, which should be rolled over easily,” she said.

Deep-pocketed Abu Dhabi is a fellow member of the seven-state United Arab Emirates and stepped in when Dubai was battling to solve Dubai World’s debt problems.

But Dubai World later proved to be only the tip of the iceberg.

Dubai and its government-related entities (GREs) had accumulated some $113 billion of debt, with $36.5 billion coming due next year only, according to EFG-Hermes.

But $20 billion of that is owed to the UAE central bank and the government of Abu Dhabi.

“We expect this to be rolled over, making overall 2014 repayments manageable,” said Malik.

Dubai has $9.4 billion of debt maturing in 2013, compared with $14.6 billion in 2012.

Among the positive signs have been announcements by the government and GREs of deals to restructure some due debt, or repayment of maturing bonds.

Earlier this month, Dubai’s government said it repaid 3.34 billion dirhams ($910 million) of bonds that came due in April. The redeemed bonds were part of a 15-billion-dirham bonds programme issued in 2008.

“This repayment reaffirms Dubai government’s commitment to deal with its repayment obligations in a proactive manner,” said Abdulrahman al-Saleh, director general of Dubai’s department of finance.

“It also strengthens the government’s resolve to honour all its financial obligations on time,” he said.

Dubai Group, a unit of ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s Dubai Holding investment arm, also said this month it was nearing a deal with its creditors to restructure $10 billion of debt after three years of talks.

“For instance, where a full repayment cannot be made, we expect a continuation of the trend established over the past one-two years of a partial capital repayment coupled with a rollover of the remaining debt,” Malik said.

She said the fixed-income market is expected to be the main source of financing, because local banks are constrained by central bank-imposed exposure limits and many European banks continue a “retrenchment” from the Middle East.

Dubai’s economy grew by just under four percent in 2012, and is expected to grow by little over four percent this year, Ahmed said.

“We see a process of recovery that is quite broad based,” he said, citing growth from “logistics, trade, and also from real estate.”

“In that sense, the Dubai economy is doing better,” he added.

Dubai’s non-oil trade surged by 13 percent in 2012 to $336 billion. Its airport is now the world’s second busiest for international travel, handling 57.68 million passengers in 2012.

A number of grandiose property and theme parks projects have been announced recently, reminiscent of the five-year heyday of rapid real estate growth in the glitzy emirate that preceded the 2009 crash.

Real estate and rental prices have also been surging after being chopped by a half during the crisis. Real estate agents are back on their phones calling owners and promising wealthy cash buyers.

But such euphoria triggers warnings of being carried away.

“As we embark now on these mega projects, this ambitious expansion plan needs to be executed in a measured way that is gradual and limits additional risk taking for the still highly-indebted GREs sector,” Ahmed said.

George Abed, director of the Institute of International Finance, warned of repeating the mistakes of the past.

“We think the lessons of the debt crisis have been largely absorbed but in some quarters we hear sometimes a note of euphoria, perhaps, and excitement, exuberance that should be cautioned against,” he was quoted by The National daily as saying.

source: business.inquirer.net