Dubai To Cash In On A World Cup A Short Flight Away

The FIFA World Cup may be bringing as many as 1.2 million fans to Qatar, but the nearby flashy emirate of Dubai is also looking to cash in on the major sports tournament taking place just a short flight away. Some soccer fan clubs have already said they’ll be commuting to Qatar during the cup on 45-minute flights from Dubai, the skyscraper-studded, beachfront city-state in the United Arab Emirates. Other fans plan to sleep on cruise ships or camp out in the desert amid a feverish rush for rooms in Doha. Dubai’s airlines, bars, restaurants, shopping malls and other attractions now hope to benefit, further boosting their rebounding tourism industry in the crucial fall and winter months after the blows delivered by the coronavirus pandemic. “If you can’t stay in Qatar, Dubai is the place you’d most like to go as a foreign tourist,” said James Swanston, a Middle East and North Africa expert at Capital Economics. “It’s somewhere safe, somewhere more liberal in terms of Western norms. It’s the most attractive destination.”

Now home to the world’s tallest building, cavernous malls — including one with an indoor ski slope — and thriving nightclub scene, Dubai has seen explosive growth fueled by its boom-and-bust real estate market that’s transformed the one-time pearling village over the last 20 years.

Its long-haul carrier Emirates helped make Dubai International Airport the busiest in the world for foreign travel and provides a steady stream of new visitors who stay for layovers or longer. And while still an autocratic sheikhdom like its other Gulf Arab neighbors, Dubai has a relatively more-liberal view on drinking and nightlife.

In the lead-up to the tournament, concerns about hotel room space and high prices for the rooms available have trailed Qatar, which lacks hotel capacity for all teams, workers, volunteers and fans at the World Cup. So Doha has created camping and cabin sites, hiring cruise ships, and encouraging fans to stay in neighboring countries and fly in for games.

Qatar has estimated it will have 45,000 hotel rooms for the tournament.

Surrounding nations, like Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, also suggest they could see a spike in visitors — even though Bahrain is the only among them that allows alcohol. Even Iran, months ago, suggested developing plans for World Cup tourists to stay on its Kish Island. Apparently, nothing came of the idea and now the Islamic Republic is gripped by nationwide protests.

Meanwhile, Dubai has over 140,000 hotel rooms, putting it easily into the top 10 destinations worldwide as far as available hotel rooms go, said Philip Wooller, a senior director at STR, a company that monitors the hotel industry. Dubai also offers price ranges greater than what Qatar can at the moment, given the demand, he said.

“I think Dubai is an incredibly eclectic city,” Wooller said. “You can buy a room for $100 or you can buy a room for $5,000.”

Still, he added, he expects “Qatar will be able to accommodate most of the fans coming to the World Cup (but) there will be a knock-on in Dubai.”

Dubai appears fully poised to take advantage of the tournament.

Its low-cost carrier, FlyDubai, plans as many as 30 round-trip flights a day during the World Cup, shuttling fans between Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, or DWC, in the city-state’s southern reaches, to Doha International Airport, Qatar’s old main airport.

Other airlines that may use Al Maktoum airport include KLM, Qatar Airways and Wizz Air, while private jets will fly from there as well to the tournament, said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports. That could help boost the profile of an airfield that Dubai hopes will expand in the future as Dubai International Airport nears its capacity.

“It’s a great experience for us to see DWC suddenly so busy for the World Cup,” he said. “It will give exposure to the convenience of the airport for so many people that (airlines may) actually favor operating from there.”

The expected economic boost from the World Cup for Dubai comes after its turnaround since suffering through the pandemic. It spent billions for its delayed Expo 2020 world’s fair — which largely attracted visitors already in the UAE.

Dubai, like much of the world, had a lockdown early in 2020. However, by July that year, it announced it was reopening for tourists. Though Dubai faced a surge of international criticism when cases spread from the emirate months later, around New Year, Dubai and the rest of the UAE widely rolled out vaccines.

The UAE dropped its mandatory mask policy about a month ago.

“Dubai is on a lot of people’s radars as one of the most phenomenal places to come and visit,” said Dennis McGettigan, the CEO of an eponymous empire of Irish bars in Dubai and elsewhere. “And I think the World Cup has added a layer” of desire to visit.

McGettigan said his bar business is already up as much as 40% on its sales, compared to 2019, something he linked to pent-up demand for socializing after the worst days of the virus. He said he’s overstaffed his locations and expects strong business through the tournament.

But McGettigan and others acknowledged headwinds Dubai faces in attracting World Cup tourists — the strong U.S. dollar. The Emirati dirham has long been pegged to the dollar, making a Dubai trip now more expensive for those using British pounds, euros and other currencies.

Other financial dangers also lurk for tourist-reliant Dubai, built on the promise of globalization.

“We still need to be cautious of global economic pressures, including rising interest rates, high oil and commodity prices, supply chain issues that are creating inflationary pressures which could impact Dubai’s economic recovery,” said Sapna Jagtiani of S&P Global Ratings.

McGettigan doesn’t expects that to be too much of a damper. His firm also will be organizing a massive fan zone venue in the grassy expanses of Dubai Media City, complete with musical performances, massive televisions and even a winter-themed area in Dubai’s desert environs.

“I, for one, am absolutely delighted to see everything back on full steam ahead and actually a little bit more,” he said.

By JON GAMBRELL

Dubai’s Expo Opens, Bringing First World’s Fair To Mideast

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — After eight years of planning and billions of dollars in spending, the Middle East’s first world’s fair opened Friday in Dubai, with hopes that the months-long extravaganza will draw both visitors and global attention to this desert-turned-dreamscape.

The coronavirus pandemic pushed Expo 2020 back a year and may affect how many people flock to the United Arab Emirates. But the six-month-long exhibition still offers Dubai a momentous opportunity to showcase its unique East-meets-West appeal as a place where all are welcome for business.

Not long ago, the site of the 1,080 acre (438 hectare) Expo was barren desert. Now, it’s a futuristic landscape buzzing with robots that bark automated orders at bare-faced visitors to mask up, a new metro station, multi-million dollar pavilions and so-called districts with names like “sustainability” and “opportunity” — all built, like much of the Gulf, by low-paid migrant workers.

More than 190 nations are using their pavilions to spotlight their greatest tourist attractions, discoveries and ambitions. The American pavilion, paid for by the UAE after the U.S. could not raise the funds in time, boasts a replica of the Space X Falcon 9 rocket and takes visitors on a conveyor belt past multimedia infomercials for American inventions. It also displays a Quran that belonged to the nation’s third president, Thomas Jefferson, as an example of how religious freedom ”is woven into the very fabric of American society.”

China’s vast, lantern-shaped pavilion focuses on the nation’s space ambitions and future inventions, featuring a Transformer-like car that SAIC Motor hopes will function one day also as a submarine and helicopter.

Draped over Italy’s pavilion is 70 kilometers (40 miles) of rope made from 2 million plastic bottles. The main attraction, though, is a marble 3-D replica of Michelangelo’s biblical hero, David. The 5.2 meters (17 feet) high nude giant is not easily accessible — visitors must must enter separate floors of a building to view it at eye-level or peer up from its feet. Public nudity is outlawed in the UAE, where traditional Muslim norms largely prevail.

UAE’s falcon-shaped pavilion, by far the site’s largest, takes visitors on a two-hour-long immersive experience through dunes of real orange sand and footage from the country’s 50-year history.

Other attractions include an African food hall, a massive mirror-like fountain with silver cascades of water flowing back and forth, a recently excavated royal Egyptian mummy, concerts and performances from around the world, and the option to dine on a $500 three-course meal with glow-in-the-dark cuisine.

As night fell and the call to prayer echoed musically through the grounds, pavilions came to life with lights, lasers and kaleidoscopic shows.

Isabel Fu, 50, said she flew in for Expo all the way from Beijing to see “the kind of changes that we’ll see in the future, the technology that makes us look forward to the next era.” Upon her return to China, she faces 21 days of quarantine.

Since first making a splash in London in 1851, world fairs have long served as an opportunity for nations to meet, exchange ideas, showcase inventions, promote culture and build business ties.

For more than a century, global exhibitions have captured the imagination and showcased some of humanity’s most important innovations. The first world’s fair held in the United States in 1876 debuted Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, the typewriter, a mechanical calculator and Heinz Ketchup. One of its main buildings, Memorial Hall, is now a museum.

Other fairs introduced inventions like the sewing machine, the elevator, carbonated soda, the Ferris wheel and, in 1939 in New York, the television.

This year’s Expo is unfolding as the virus continues to course across the world, with untold numbers still working and studying remotely — and connecting to the world virtually. It’s unclear how many visitors Dubai can attract, and how much the Expo will stimulate its tourism-driven economy — especially in the blistering early autumn heat, which on Friday caused tempers to flare, some visitors to faint and most people to sweat through their shirts.

“We’re dying! Humans can’t tolerate this weather,” exclaimed 35-year-old Warda Abadi from Saudi Arabia as she shepherded her limping mother into the shade.

To enter the Expo site, visitors must show a negative PCR test or proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

Dubai’s ruler and the force behind the emirate’s transformation, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, described Expo 2020 as a chance to showcase the best of human excellence.
“It offers a platform to forge a united worldwide effort to build a more sustainable and prosperous future for all of mankind,” he told guests at the Expo’s opening ceremony.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince and de-facto ruler of the UAE’s seat of power, Abu Dhabi, emphasized “the ethos of this land” as a meeting point for cultures and tolerance.

Whether Iran or Israel, every nation is welcome at Dubai’s Expo. The space marked for Afghanistan’s pavilion, however, appeared vacant weeks after the Taliban takeover of Kabul.

“It makes me very proud to see so many different kinds of cultures, countries and traditions coming to my country for the first time,” said Isa Nuaimi, a 25-year-old government pilot from the Emirati city of Al Ain.

Human Rights Watch, however, said that the UAE’s efforts to promote itself as an “open and tolerant country” remain at odds with its human rights abuses, including the suppression of peaceful criticism, jailing of activists and pervasive government surveillance.

“The UAE has embarked on a decades-long effort to whitewash its reputation on the international stage,” the rights group said.

The Expo site will attempt to dazzle visitors with a centerpiece dome, marketed as the world’s largest 360-degree projection screen.

Some world’s fair structures remain iconic markers of the human journey and our industrial evolution. None more so than the Eiffel Tower, which was constructed in Paris, not only to be the tallest structure in the world at the time, but to serve as the entrance to the 1889 world’s fair. The Space Needle in Seattle, Washington, built for the 1962 world’s fair, also continues to enjoy global prominence.

While most fairs were held in Europe and the United States, none have been hosted in the Middle East until now.

At Dubai Airport, Travelers’ Eyes Become Their Passports

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai’s airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, can already feel surreal, with its cavernous duty-free stores, artificial palm trees, gleaming terminals, water cascades and near-Arctic levels of air conditioning.

Now, the key east-west transit hub is rolling out another addition from the realm of science fiction — an iris-scanner that verifies one’s identity and eliminates the need for any human interaction when entering or leaving the country.

It’s the latest artificial intelligence program the United Arab Emirates has launched amid the surging coronavirus pandemic, contact-less technology the government promotes as helping to stem the spread of the virus. But the efforts also have renewed questions about mass surveillance in the federation of seven sheikhdoms, which experts believe has among the highest per capita concentrations of surveillance cameras in the world.

Dubai’s airport started offering the program to all passengers last month. On Sunday, travelers stepped up to an iris scanner after checking in, gave it a good look and breezed through passport control within seconds. Gone were the days of paper tickets or unwieldy phone apps.

In recent years, airports across the world have accelerated their use of timesaving facial recognition technology to move passengers to their flights. But Dubai’s iris scan improves on the more commonplace automated gates seen elsewhere, authorities said, connecting the iris data to the country’s facial recognition databases so the passenger needs no identifying documents or boarding pass. The unusual partnership between long-haul carrier Emirates, owned by a Dubai sovereign wealth fund, and the Dubai immigration office integrates the data and carries travelers from check-in to boarding in one fell swoop, they added.

“The future is coming,” said Major Gen. Obaid Mehayer Bin Suroor, deputy director of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreign Affairs. “Now, all the procedures have become ‘smart,’ around five to six seconds.”

But like all facial recognition technology, the program adds to fears of vanishing privacy in the country, which has faced international criticism for targeting journalists and human rights activists.

According to Emirates’ biometric privacy statement, the airline links passengers’ faces with other personally identifying data, including passport and flight information, retaining it for “as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected.” The agreement offered few details about how the data will be used and stored, beyond saying that while the company didn’t make copies of passengers’ faces, other personal data “can be processed in other Emirates’ systems.”

Bin Suroor stressed that Dubai’s immigration office “completely protects” passengers’ personal data so that “no third party can see it.”

But without more information about how data will be used or stored, biometric technology raises the possibility of misuse, experts say.

“Any kind of surveillance technology raises red flags, regardless of what kind of country it’s in,” said Jonathan Frankle, a doctoral student in artificial intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ”But in a democratic country, if the surveillance technology is used transparently, at least there’s an opportunity to have a public conversation about it.”

Iris scans, requiring people to stare into a camera as though they’re offering a fingerprint, have become more widespread worldwide in recent years as questions have arisen over the accuracy of facial recognition technology. Iris biometrics are considered more reliable than surveillance cameras that scan people’s faces from a distance without their knowledge or consent.

Despite concerns about overzealous surveillance in the UAE, the country’s vast facial recognition network only shows signs of expanding. Last month, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who also serves as Dubai’s ruler, announced the country would begin trials of new facial recognition technology to cut down on paperwork in “some private sector services,” without elaborating.

During the pandemic, the skyscrapper-studded city of Dubai has advanced an array of technological tools to fight the virus in malls and on streets, including disinfectant foggers, thermal cameras and face scans that check for masks and take temperatures. The programs similarly use cameras that can record and upload people’s data, potentially feeding the information into the city-state’s wider biometric databases.

US shows Off Its Star-Studded Expo 2020 Pavilion In Dubai, Now Scheduled For October 1, 2021.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. showed off a literally star-studded pavilion on Wednesday for Dubai’s upcoming Expo 2020, complete with a replica SpaceX rocket body beside it.

Two fog machines swirled smoke around the replica, trying to lend the impression it just landed at the still under-construction Expo site in Dubai’s southern desert. But what will be a major draw at this world’s fair remains in question as the world struggles through the coronavirus pandemic and global air travel, a key industry for Dubai, struggles to take off. Dubai’s Expo 2020, or world’s fair, represents a $7 billion bet by this sheikhdom in the United Arab Emirates that the event will boost tourism and business interest. The pandemic forced organizers to delay the start of the event by a year to Oct. 1, 2021 — putting even more pressure on the expo to turn around Dubai’s economy, which had been struggled even before the virus.

That extra time came in handy for countries participating in the event, particularly the U.S. America struggled to come up with funding for their pavilion and ended up relying on what it called “the generosity of the Emirati government” to cover its estimated $60 million cost. The pavilion’s exterior appeared finished Wednesday, but its interior remained a worksite. John Rakolta, the U.S. ambassador to the UAE, made a point to repeatedly praise the Emirati government for its donation, without offering a figure for the final cost. Asked if that Emirati donation would influence what the U.S. displayed, Rakolta called the UAE “open” and “inclusive.” “They’ve encouraged us to reach for the stars,” Rakolta said. The 3,344 square-meter (36,000 square-foot) pavilion will include a “24-minute experience” of America with moon rocks, a Mars rover and Thomas Jefferson’s Quran, Rakolta said. What an American experience means also could be open to interpretation for a Middle East audience, particularly after years of travel bans targeting predominantly Muslim nations and tensions with Iran under the current Trump administration.

“The United States is a melting pot of cultures from all over the world, and there’s always going to be tension,” Rakolta said “The strength of America is after a hard-fought election to come back together to the middle and to be able to bridge some of the differences that we have.” Rakolta, a Republican appointed by Trump, added: “You only agree with about 80% of what even your own party might have to offer.” The pandemic also remained at the front of people’s minds as attendees all wore government-mandate face masks and hand sanitizers stood at the ready. Rakolta said the American pavilion’s construction had so far avoided seeing a worker contract the coronavirus. It remains unclear what the effect of the virus across the wider Expo construction site has been. Expo 2020 offered no officials to speak to reporters invited for the visit. Officials from Expo also tried to have journalists sign forms that implied they could face criminal prosecution for not following their orders and refused to allow filming of workers on the site. ___ Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

UAE Announces Relaxing Of Islamic Laws For Personal Freedoms

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates announced on Saturday a major overhaul of the country’s Islamic personal laws, allowing unmarried couples to cohabitate, loosening alcohol restrictions and criminalizing so-called “honor killings.” The broadening of personal freedoms reflects the changing profile of a country that has sought to bill itself as a Westernized destination for tourists, fortune-seekers and businesses despite its Islamic legal code that has previously triggered court cases against foreigners and outrage in their home countries. The reforms aim to boost the country’s economic and social standing and “consolidate the UAE’s principles of tolerance,” said state-run WAM news agency, which offered only minimal details in the surprise weekend announcement. The government decrees behind the changes were outlined extensively in state-linked newspaper The National, which did not cite its source. The move follows a historic U.S.-brokered deal to normalize relations between the UAE and Israel, which is expected to bring an influx of Israeli tourists and investment. It also comes as skyscraper-studded Dubai gets ready to host the World Expo. The high-stakes event, expected to bring a flurry of commercial activity and some 25 million visitors to the country, was set for October but pushed back a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The changes, which The National said would take immediate effect, also reflect the efforts of the Emirates’ rulers to keep pace with a rapidly changing society at home. “I could not be happier for these new laws that are progressive and proactive,” said Emirati filmmaker Abdallah Al Kaabi, whose art has tackled taboo topics like homosexual love and gender identity. “2020 has been a tough and transformative year for the UAE,” he added. Changes include scrapping penalties for alcohol consumption, sales and possession for those 21 and over. Although liquor and beer is widely available in bars and clubs in the UAE’s luxuriant coastal cities, individuals needed a government-issued license to purchase, transport or have alcohol in their homes. The new rule would allow Muslims who have been barred from obtaining licenses to drink alcoholic beverages freely. Another amendment allows for “cohabitation of unmarried couples,” which has long been a crime in the UAE. Authorities, especially in the more freewheeling financial hub of Dubai, often looked the other way when it came to foreigners, but the threat of punishment still lingered. Attempted suicide, forbidden in Islamic law, would also be decriminalized, The National reported. In a move to better “protect women’s rights,” the government said it would get rid of laws defending “honor crimes,” a widely criticized tribal custom in which a male relative may evade prosecution for assaulting a woman seen as dishonoring a family. The punishment for a crime committed to eradicate a woman’s “shame,” for promiscuity or disobeying religious and cultural strictures, will now be the same for any other kind of assault.

In a country where expatriates outnumber citizens nearly nine to one, the amendments will permit foreigners to avoid Islamic Shariah courts on issues like marriage, divorce and inheritance. The announcement said nothing of other behavior deemed insulting to local customs that has landed foreigners in jail in the past, such as acts of homosexuality, cross-dressing and public displays of affection. Traditional Islamic values remain strong in the federation of seven desert sheikhdoms. Even so, Annelle Sheline, a Middle East research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote on Twitter that the drastic changes “can happen without too much popular resistance because the population of citizens, especially in the main cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, is so small.” The roughly 1 million Emiratis in the UAE, a hereditarily ruled country long criticized for its suppression of dissent, closely toe the government line. Political parties and labor unions remain illegal.

If You're Flying To Dubai, You Should Know About This New Fee

Dubai International Airport

Falling oil revenues led to the initiative, which will fund renovations and expansions for the airport.

A new fee will be implemented to all travelers leaving Dubai’s airport to help pay for improvements and expansions onsite. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum made the announcement on Wednesday, saying every exiting passenger, even those with connecting flights, will have to pay 35-dirhams ($9.50) for flights leaving after June 30 that have been booked starting March 1.

With oil revenues falling, these fees will go toward the necessary expansion of Dubai International Airport’s new Concourse D, Terminal 2, and the renovation of Terminal 1. More than 78 million passengers came through in 2015 and after opening concourse D in February, the airport can now handle 90 million. These projects are likely to keep Dubai in the top spot for busiest international airport (it beat out London’s Heathrow in 2014).

Al-Maktoum International, Dubai’s smaller second airport, opened in 2013 and is expected to take on 120 million passengers a year once it is finished.

by Jordi Lippe-McGraw ,www.travelandleasure.com

The Insider Secret All Visitors To Dubai Should Know

The Entertainer Dubai is Dubai’s best kept secret, and is the first thing any tourist should know about before visiting Dubai as it can save 1000s of dirhams (they estimate the total value to be 500,000 AED)

The Entertainer Dubai 2016 – what’s included?

The Entertainer Dubai is a discount voucher book of over 2,300 Buy One Get One Free discounts such as:-

• Cafes
• Sports, Pleasure & Leisure
• Family & Casual
• Hotel Accomodation
• Informal Dining & Takeaway
• Nightspots
• Services

n.b. click links below to see participating outlets

Discover more of Dubai with Buy One Get One Free offers for the best restaurants, cafés, nightspots, informal dining, attractions and services across Dubai and the Northern Emirates. Exciting new merchants include Papa John’s, Crab Tavern, Galito’s, KidZania and Johnny Rockets.

The Entertainer Dubai – Products in Dubai for 2016

The Entertainer books are available across the world – including Cape Town, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Singapore – but are particular strong in Dubai, covering :-

• Dubai 2016 (including The Entertainer Travel 2016) – save up to 500,000 AED
• Dubai Fine Dining 2016 – save up to 300,000 AED
• Dubai Body 2016 – save up to 300,000 AED
• Dubai Kids 2016 – save up to 250,000 AED

n.b. the links above are for the app version, as they are 50 AED cheaper than the books

THE ENTERTAINER DUBAI – HOW DOES IT WORK?

The Entertainer Dubai 2016 is available in two versions, a voucher book and an app, depending which is more convenient for you.

The app is 50 AED cheaper, and is preferable to carrying two thick books around, plus there is an added benefit as it used location-based services (when enabled on your phone) to find offers closest to you.

Top tip – Free WiFi is available almost everywhere in Dubai, so save your money and use Wifi (not your roaming data plan!)

So, say you were at The Walk and Jumeirah Beach Residence and you fancied something to eat. You would simply open the app in your phone, search either venues near you by name or location, and the offers would be listed.

Generally for restaurants the deal would be One Main Meal item free when one is purchased, when two people are dining.

Unfortunately – and I’ve tried it – the Entertainer offers can only be redeemed for two people or more.

For example, the Butcher Shop Grill offer a fantastic seafood buffet so one person would buy the more expensive item whilst the second person could pick any Main Meal item (I recommend the meat mixed grill) and it would be free.

Redeeming the offers is easy, either hand over the voucher (from the book) or show the waiter your app. He will ask you to redeem, you click the icon in the app, enter your pin code and it will generate a code he will take note of.

That’s it – you’ve just saved over 200 AED, and had an amazing meal also!

What are the best offers available in The Entertainer Dubai?

Keep checking back here on Eat Drink Stay Dubai for further detailed reviews of The Entertainer Dubai, including :-

• How to save fortunes on hotels
• Which are the best deals?
• Tips for redeeming

Travelore Tips: Tipping In Dubai Who To Tip And What To Tip? All Your Questions Answered Here

The thing that really makes Dubai a cut above the rest is the quality and sheer abundance of quality service available. Car valets, petrol pump attendants, spa and beauty therapists, taxi drivers, waiters, hotel bellboys, delivery drivers, supermarket bag packers… the list goes on. Of course, with the battalion of service staff comes the question, “To tip or not to tip?”

Tipping varies from profession to profession and is also largely down to personal preference. While it is customary to tip in most cases in Dubai, it isn’t compulsory. Here is a rough guide to help you out during your visit.

Waitstaff

While the majority of restaurants will note at the bottom of the menu that taxes and service charge have already been included in the bill, it is still common among most diners in Dubai to tip the service staff. A figure between 10 and 15 per cent is customary, but this is dependent on the quality of service.

Taxi driver

Taxis in Dubai are cheap and plentiful, and therefore tipping the driver is a common occurrence. Usually a small tip of AED5 to AED10 is given, but generally passengers will just round the fare up to the nearest note and allow the driver to keep the change.

Spa & beauty therapist

Depending on the particular treatment, tips will vary from AED5 to 10 to 15 per cent of the treatment value. Smaller treatments such as manicures would warrant a smaller tip, whereas a bigger tip would usually be given for a haircut or massage.

Supermarket bag packer

Small change. The bag packer will serve a new customer every few minutes so would not expect a large tip from every customer.

Delivery driver

For takeaways or grocery deliveries, a token gesture of allowing the driver to keep the change to the nearest note is customary. Not only is this a show of gratitude, but it also makes means the driver doesn’t have the inconvenience of finding change.

Things to remember

While tipping is always appreciated in Dubai, it is rarely expected, and no matter if one per cent or 50 per cent is given, the most important thing is to treat service staff with respect. A smile and a “Thank you” goes a long way.

- See more at: http://www.visitdubai.com/en/articles/tipping-in-dubai?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=visitdubai&utm_term=en&utm_content=visitdubai-us#sthash.z9AcR8kP.dpuf