Most people consider Dubai to be a tourist hub. With nearly 16 million visitors in 2018, Dubai is the fourth most popular tourist destination in the world.
According to Mastercard's 2019 Global Destination Cities Index, Dubai tops the list for tourist spending, with tourists spending nearly $31 billion a year.
The city is known for its luxury shopping and entertainment destinations, but it has much more to offer than high-end malls and grand theatre performances.
You may not know the following about this fast-growing metropolis.
Dubai is often mistaken for an independent country. In fact, it is one of the seven emirates of the UAE, which was established after independence from the UK in 1971.
As the largest city in the UAE, Dubai is one of the UAE's main ports of entry and one of the world's busiest transport hubs: Dubai International Airport welcomes 88 million people a year.
Oil was discovered in Dubai in 1966. Until then, the local economy was based on the floating industry, one of which was diving and pearling, and Dubai was just a small fishing village at that time.
The UAE's GDP is $414 billion and is expected to grow by 2.4 percent in 2019, in part due to the rapid growth of the oil industry. Dubai produces nearly 84,000 barrels of crude oil a day, but that's not the only reason for the city's success.
Currently, more than 90% of Dubai's business activities come from other sectors, including logistics, financial services, real estate, construction and manufacturing.
Ranked 25th in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2019, the UAE is the most competitive economy in the Arab world due to factors such as innovation, skills and macroeconomic stability.
Dubai has a young population: 60% of residents are under the age of 35.
The city is also an emerging center of technological innovation.
In 2017, the World Economic Forum, in partnership with the International Finance Corporation, launched the "100 Arab Start-ups Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution" initiative to identify, support and help the best and wisest entrepreneurs in the Arab world improve the situation in the region.
Success stories of the initiative in Dubai include careem, a ride-hailing app that was acquired by Uber for $3.1 billion in 2019, and bitoasis, which provides cryptocurrencies to Arab countries.
Many of the world's leading media companies have their Middle East base in Dubai. It has a professional media city and is home to global organizations such as Reuters, BBC, CNN, CNBC, Sony and Showtime.
Founded in 2001 as a media content production and broadcasting hub and part of Dubai's Tech, E-Commerce and Media Authority Free Zone (tecom), the media city is the largest office space in the region, with a development budget of over $800 million and around 2,500 registered companies.
The UAE is an increasingly popular filming location for Hollywood films, with many films shot in Dubai, including the thriller "Syriana" starring George Clooney.
Can happiness be measured? Measurable in Dubai, dubai has established a digital 'happiness index' to measure the emotions of citizens, residents and tourists, especially when people interact with dubai government services businesses.
The Dubai government aims to make the city the happiest city in the world.
In 2016, the UAE government appointed Ohood bint khalfan al Rhoumi as the first Minister of Happiness, responsible for launching a national project on positivity.
According to the Ministry of National Happiness, between 2016 and 2018, the happiness of EMPLOYEES in the UAE increased by 24%.
Author of this article:
Katharine Rooney, senior author, formative content
URL: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/11/dubai-shopping-technology-film-clooney-tourism/