Business Services Industry

Desert luxury: a burgeoning oasis, Dubai is the new "in" place for the vacationing CEO

Chief Executive, The, May, 2005 by Rebecca Fannin

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Plenty to Buy in Dubai

Tired of sports? Try shopping. How about the month-long Dubai Shopping Festival starting in mid-January? It attracts more than 5 million visitors who come for the retail pavilions and carnivals and also the chance to win daily raffle prizes, ranging from 1 kilogram of gold to Lexus cars to villas. And don't forget the well-stocked and crowded gold and spice souks or the high-fashion boutiques and electronic shops in any one of Dubai's 30 and growing shopping malls. The airport itself is a gigantic duty-free shopping zone. Raffles are held regularly and winners drive away in a brand-new Porsche or Jaguar. One lucky London advertising executive brags that he won two of the cars; he sold one and had the other shipped home.

For the adventuresome, the desert beckons. Try an overnight safari in the desert to see isolated villages, camel farms and the Hajar mountains in the distance. Experience sand skiing down the dunes, imaginably a lot like surfing. After the sun goes down, try a traditional Arabian barbecue of spiced lamb while sitting under the stars; and afterwards, take in a belly dance performance.

A highly romantic experience can be had at the Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, with 41 Bedouin-style suites outfitted with private plunge pools overlooking a vast desert conservation reserve. Camel rides, horseback riding, falconry displays and archery are but a few of the amusements here.

Back in the city, the choice of hotels comes down to city or beachfront properties. In the city, the Emirates Towers looks eerily like the Twin Towers but has been named one of the best business hotels in the world for its many must-haves: fitness facilities, executive lounge, rooftop restaurants and bars, conference rooms and quick access to corporate offices.

At the beach, there's the usual assortment of Ritz-Carlton hotels and the like, plus a newly opened high-end Arabian resort called Madinat Jumeirah, owned by the same group that operates the close-by Burj Al Arab. A recreation of an ancient Arabian village, the extra-large property features two hotels (one like a palace; the other like a citadel) and 29 traditional courtyard summer houses with private pools.

The resort also has a full-scale souk, tennis courts, a spa, and its best feature: a wraparound lagoon with numerous canals and waterways for travel by water taxi anywhere in the resort. Seemingly, no expense has been spared, including a conference area large enough to host a World's Fair.

While some say Dubai verges on being ridiculous, Jonathan Howell-Jones, a marketing official with Dubai Internet City who relocated from rainy Britain, takes umbrage. "We're here, right? And we're not going. The taxes are low, the health care system is good, and the weather is just about like this for eight months of the year," he says, pointing to a clear-blue sky on a 99-degree day, the wind blowing lazily through the palm trees.