Human capital in the Dubai hotel industry: A study of four- and five-star hotels and the HR challenges they face

Dubai brands itself as an international leisure and business center and home to the luxury hotel market. While hotel growth has been, and continues to be rapid, little is known about hotel employees, their demographics or how they feel about working in this industry. This article reports the findings of what is the first review of Dubai hotel human capital, noting there are significant difference in workforce demographics to other countries, for example, it is male dominated, highly educated, and employees note positive levels of organizational social capital. It also highlights potential challenges going forward.     

Transport Infrastructure and Logistics in the Making of Dubai Inc.

This article interrogates the political economy of Dubai's Jebel Ali Port, ranked among the top ten container ports internationally by traffic, and its operating conglomerate, Dubai Ports World (DP World). The article aims to situate trade infrastructure in the production of Dubai's economic geography as a sea–air multimodal trading hub. Three interrelated arguments are put forward: that port infrastructure plays an essential role in linking diverse moments of capital accumulation in Dubai; that Dubai's state‐owned conglomerates have overseen a substantial internationalization of Dubai's capital through maritime port public–private partnership arrangements; and that the particularities of Dubai's repressive labour regime underpin its role in the logistics industry internationally.     

Destination Development

Abstract

This paper discusses tourism in Singapore, and Dubai, both relatively small and wealthy territories which have achieved considerable success in attracting international visitors. Tourism resources and policies are compared to reveal similarities and differences in their attractions bases and infrastructures. There is also evidence of a common commitment to growth and a willingness to intervene and invest on the part of governments. Application of the life cycle model, however, suggests that they are at contrasting stages in the development process. Singapore is attempting to avert stagnation while Dubai is growing at a fairly rapid pace. These positions pose particular challenges and the future evolution of the states as tourist destinations is uncertain, despite official efforts to shape it.     

Stopover destination image – perceptions of Dubai,United Arab Emirates,among French and Australian travellers

ABSTRACT

This study reports a rare investigation into the phenomenon of stopovers during long-haul international travel. Although destination image has been one of the most popular topics in the tourism literature, there has been a lack of attention by researchers regarding the context of stopover destination image for long-haul international air travellers. Indeed most studies have measured destination image without explicitly stating any travel context. A mixed methods approach in two geographically distant markets yielded externally valid findings. This study commenced with a qualitative stage in two countries to elicit attributes deemed salient to individuals when considering an international stopover. Attributes elicited from the two samples were triangulated with the most common themes reported in the destination image literature. A set of 29 attributes was then tested in two online surveys involving 777 consumers in Australia and France. The study highlights the value of engaging with consumers in a qualitative stage, to design a context-specific destination image questionnaire. By using this approach, 12 potentially determinant attributes of stopover destination attractiveness were identified, eight of which have not been commonly used in destination image studies, and one of which represents a new destination image attribute in the literature.     

Can Sentiment Toward Advertising Explain Materialism and Vanity in the Globalization Era? Evidence From Dubai

ABSTRACT

This report presents the first study to address sentiment toward advertising, materialism, and vanity in the globalized city of Dubai. A conceptual model is developed and subsequent hypotheses are tested via structural equation modeling. The main research findings suggest that consumers in Dubai exhibit positive perceptions of advertising as well as higher levels of materialism and vanity. Sentiment toward advertising is found to positively influence materialism levels, while materialism strongly influences views, concern for physical appearance, and personal achievement. Sentiment toward advertising, however, has no direct effect on any vanity trait, suggesting that vanity is more an internal personal trait.     

Dimensions of Destination Images—The Relationship Between Specific Sites and Overall Perceptions of Place: The Example of Dubai Creek and “Greater Dubai”

ABSTRACT

The current research study attempted to identify to what extent the overall, generic image of a place is determined by, or related to, site specific locations within the destination. A series of answers to open-ended questions were elicited from 102 respondents in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The data were analyzed using thematic and textual analysis using the neural network program CatPac?, a principal components analysis of dichotomous variables and Spearman rho tests of frequency ranking. The results from this study imply that two homogeneities of image are able to exist simultaneously in the visitors' minds, even though little correlation appears to exist between the images.     

后金融危机时代国家主权债务危机的负面影响与反思

迪拜主权债务危机的出现,拉开了国家主权债务危机的序幕,此后不久希腊爆发的国家主权债务危机,更加深了世界对美国可能的国家主权债务危机的深深忧虑。迪拜债务危机的负面影响,造成了国家信用的下降,全球股市震荡,影响到国际银行业,延缓了世界经济复苏。为此,需警惕国际经济与政策对资产价格与房地产价格的冲击。经济增长不能脱离实体经济,经济建设需量力而行,外债规模需考虑自身的需要与可偿还能力,房地产市场的健康发展对经济的发展至关重要。迪拜债务危机对我国的警示应引起足够重视。     

Dubai in the ‘Middle’

In the early 2000s, Dubai seemed the apotheosis of the global city model. Lauded as an embodiment of globalist ideals, or harshly criticized as a representation of the dangers of contemporary urbanism, it was clearly under the spotlight. Then, like the concept of the ‘global city’ itself, it disappeared from the headlines, to be subject only to sporadic and cynical attention. Today some are heralding a ‘return’ of Dubai from the anonymity of the middle ground of global city hierarchies and rankings. What is often forgotten, however, is that urbanism in Dubai did not stop. On the contrary, Dubai's continuous ‘worlding’ offers a productive opportunity for the encounter of ‘global’ and ‘ordinary’ modes of urban analysis. By unpacking the construction of a global Dubai, this article advocates greater sensitivity to the multiscalar politics that shape its continuity. Stepping beyond rumours of crisis and decline, it aims to connect the global fortunes and everyday processes that jointly characterize the development of global cities. ‘Global’ and ‘ordinary’ urbanism, it argues, are but two registers of how we could, in Warren Magnusson's words, ‘see like a city’.     

THE LEGAL AUTONOMY OF THE DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CENTRE: A SCALABLE STRATEGY FOR GLOBAL FREE-MARKET REFORMS

Islamic culture is founded on a deep and pervasive respect for contract, and for contractual relationships as a means of solving diverse social problems. In addition, for more than a thousand years Islamic empires have included Jewish and Christian communities that were allowed to have a substantial degree of legal autonomy. These two facts about Islamic legal culture are used to explain the remarkable phenomenon of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), a financial free zone in Dubai in which a British judge administers British common law within the zone while outside the zone UAE law applies. We encourage other nations to consider the flexible and pragmatic approach that has characterised Dubai in the creation of the DIFC.