Tourism in Dubai: overcoming barriers to destination development

The Middle East as a whole attracts comparatively few visitors, and political events in the current century have generated new uncertainties and tensions which seem likely to further discourage tourists and investors. Additional barriers relate to poor accessibility, a perceived lack of conventional attractions and limited promotion. Despite these apparently unfavourable circumstances, international tourism has been adopted by the Dubai authorities as a core element in a programme of economic diversification. They have invested heavily in expensive facilities, as well as undertaken extensive marketing, and the outcome has been strong growth in tourism. There are great expectations of the future, reflected in the setting of very high arrival targets. However, there are also several constraints that might inhibit progress, with a need to review strategies. The experience of Dubai thus serves to illustrate factors that are critical to destination development, major impediments and approaches to overcoming these. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd.     

迪拜视角下中国商业银行信用风险管理的对策研究

在对迪拜债务危机成因分析的基础上,引入信用风险的含义,结合中国商业银行信用风险管理的现状,尤其是中国步入全球经济后,发现信用风险问题尤为突出,已对中国的经济构成严重影响,商业银行经营机制不健全、内部评级机制不完善、监管的手段和方法陈旧、落后等,亟待解决。如何根据中国的基本国情加强商业银行信用风险管理问题提出了一些对策和建议。     

Customer Aggression,Emotional Exhaustion,and Hotel Employee Outcomes: A Study in the United Arab Emirates

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a conceptual model that investigates emotional exhaustion as a mediator of the effects of customer aggression on life satisfaction and turnover intentions. The model also examines supervisor support as a moderator of the relationships among customer aggression, emotional exhaustion, and the previously mentioned outcomes. Data were gathered from a sample of full-time Arab frontline employees in the international five-star chain hotels of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The hypothesized relationships were tested using LISREL 8.30 through path analysis. The results demonstrate that emotional exhaustion partially mediates the effects of customer aggression on life satisfaction and turnover intentions. The results further reveal that supervisor support acts as a moderator of the impacts of emotional exhaustion on these outcomes. Implications of the findings are discussed and their future research directions are offered.     

Setting the conditions for going global: Dubai’s transformations and the Emirati women

Abstract

This study investigated how the rapid transformation of Dubai has affected the forms and shape of Emiratis’ consumption. Analysis of participant observations, projective techniques and existential phenomenological interviews with Emirati women living in Dubai uncovered ambivalence about economic power and loss of traditions and strategies for going global including embracing local capital, brand selection and spatiotemporal restrictions. The discussion notes that the global is something that is locally constructed whereby the locals play a key role in developing global structures of common difference.     

Vertical landscraping, a big regionalism for Dubai

Dubai's ecologic and economic complications are exacerbated by six years of accelerated expansion, a fixed top-down approach to urbanism and the construction of iconic single-phase mega-projects. With recent construction delays, project cancellations and growing landscape issues, Dubai's tower typologies have been unresponsive to changing environmental, socio-cultural and economic patterns (BBC, 2009; Gillet, 2009; Lewis, 2009). In this essay, a theory of "Big Regionalism" guides an argument for an economically and ecologically linked tower typology called the Condenser. This phased "box-to-tower" typology is part of a greater Landscape Urbanist strategy called Vertical Landscraping. Within this strategy, the Condenser's role is to densify the city, facilitating the creation of ecologic voids that order the urban region. Delineating "Big Regional" principles, the Condenser provides a time-based, global-local urban growth approach that weaves Bigness into a series of urban-regional, economic and ecological relationships, builds upon the environmental performance of the city's regional architecture and planning, promotes a continuity of Dubai's urban history, and responds to its landscape issues while condensing development. These speculations permit consideration of the overlooked opportunities embedded within Dubai's mega-projects and their long-term impact on the urban morphology.     

迪拜危机下的中国建筑形式与经济

本文通过对迪拜危机与当前国内与迪拜相似的建筑形式引发对经济浪费的思考,并结合国内建筑实例论证"异形"建筑形式的非理性、对经济的浪费及存在的原因等诸多问题,并提出具体的解决方法。     

Tourism,development and ‘destination Dubai’: cultural dilemmas and future challenges

The aim of this conceptual paper is to provide a critical assessment of Dubai's approach to tourism development, focusing on its cultural implications. The work initially observes ways in which the destination is building an image based on iconographic grandeur, monumental innovation and super-modernism. In doing so, the enquiry indicates that one fundamental sociological concern for destination Dubai is its perceived lack of cultural consistency, particularly in terms of the absorption of the old into the new. This position is evident through a paucity of heritage resources and institutions associated with the tourism market, as well as limited public knowledge concerning the ethnic and traditional elements of the indigenous society. Emphasising a more culturally focused tourism agenda could help to socially sustain and ground local communities (and identities) threatened by rapid urbanisation and Westernisation. However, one noted dilemma relates to the complexity of defining and deconstructing indigenous forms of ethnicity and identity. Nevertheless, the discussion claims that it is imperative not to lose sight of the possible opportunities for the productive advancement of localised forms of tourism and cultural capital. The paper concludes by highlighting the importance of examining the diversity of local perceptions of tourism, culture and development within an empirically informed framework.     

迪拜债务危机:原因、影响及启示

2009年11月25日,迪拜政府宣布将重组旗下最大的主权投资公司迪拜世界,延迟6个月偿还其即将到期的约600亿美元债务。此事引起全球金融市场对迪拜未来偿还能力的担忧,多国股市出现下跌。迪拜债务危机的爆发主要是迪拜的发展模式出现问题,导致在金融危机冲击下房地产价格大幅度下跌。欧洲银行业在此次危机中风险敞口最大。此次事件会使新兴市场资金流向和美元汇率短期受到影响,但对世界经济的长期影响有限。迪拜危机对中国影响较小,但其所暴露的问题值得我们关注。