Dubai/UAE - where did you think you were?

[WhyamIinahandcartandwherearewegoing]

I’ll preface this by saying I wish the best for anyone out there, working or holidaying. I hope you are and remain safe.

but do people go there with next to no concern for where in the world it’s located? Do they pay no attention to news or the general geopolitical situation, it’s hnot exactly a secret.

are we really that dense that most people don’t look past the bling, the weather, the tax perks, the bloody influencers?

I will bet my bottom dollar that the majority of people who holiday in Dubai aren't there to learn about their culture of human rights abuse and ecocide.

Where do people think Dubai appeared from I wonder?

I didn't say that. Don't you dare attribute that to me

I know about the underbelly of Dubai, but if you chose destinations on a moral stance, you'd never go anywhere!

This is an absolutely fucking ridiculous statement, akin to "but vegans indirectly kill insects to grow plants so we might as well all eat foie gras!"

Do whatever the fuck you want but don't justify it with nonsense like this.

You can have self-chosen standards while still having options to go to. Most of Europe is democratic, doesn't have a kafala migrant system etc for a start.

I take your point that Brits go to all kinds of places but you can't generalise. Plenty of people have disapproved of Dubai for a long time, and wouldn't go there, it's not 'suddenly fashionable'. And plenty of people do have various places they wouldn't choose to go to, not everyone is indiscriminately 'voracious'.

It's worth noting countries that abuse human rights also tend to be less safe to travel to. It's unsuorising also that people on a parenting forum would be more sceptical of various travel destinations rather than happy to go anywhere, on average parenting often makes people more safety-alert.

At least the sea is reclaiming the sandcastles.

What the USA has done is cause yet another migrant crisis for Europe to deal with, all because your paedophile of a POTUS can divert attention to something else.

The US will bomb Iran, they'll be a civil war, millions killed, injured and migrants will flee.
The USA is totally useless and Trump can produce no evidence that Iran was going to bomb the USA.... laughable.

Oh and top of that, gas prices will spike, helping Russia, damaging Europe and costing everyone here a fortune..... Trump is a total CNUT and the sooner he drops dead the better.

Why can't the US just fuck off and deal with their own drug and school shooter problems & leave the RoW alone?

😂😂😂

Ah right - so I would be better going to Dubai and tipping the locals than going to somewhere that's not so oppressive?

I'm not sure what makes you think I haven't travelled - I have. What education would I get sitting in a complex in Dubai?

How would tipping a waiter in Dubai help a woman who has been raped by her husband and that's considered legal?

I personally think it's better not to support those regimes indirectly by visiting them

I think the idea of travel broadening the mind is often over-idealised. It certainly can, but I don't think it's necessarily going to.

Especually if you travel somewhere where free speech is restricted. Dubai is an example , but you could mention Hong Kong or many others. They may seem happy & safe to a visitor, who doesn't see the political repression, prisons,,abused migrants etc. After all, plenty of people who actually live in those countries won't see those things- why would tourists?

You're being obtuse -and if you think laughing at me is going to make your day better - you crack on. I didn't say once that I was pro war or that anyone deserved to have bombs dropped on them. I'm actually embarrassed for you at this point. Really embarrassing.

Why are you laughing? 🤣

It's true. Pp hasn't posted anything gloating over people being bombed, unless I've missed a post.

Maybe we should try and get access to North Korea - get a bit of education as to how the locals live and bung the locals a few quid. After all - you're missing out if you don't broaden your mind by visiting places where people are oppressed

One person said folk deserved all they got as far as I'm aware. That was it. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong

I would never holiday in dubai, given its human rights record. I just couldnt give my money over in good conscience.

When I was very early 20s, I went to Egypt, and got held hostage. It was terrifying and I absolutely cannot fathom how ANYONE considers holidaying there either. Me and my friend were treated incredibly badly by the men there. That would have been 2001 and I'm not convinced its any safer for women. Having to fight men for my own suitcase at Cairo airport. Horrible place.

I won't go to Turkey or Cyprus (I have family who live in Turkey as ex-pats) and I even felt nervous holidaying in Rhodes when tRump bombed Iran the first time!! It felt soooooo close, even though its just less than 3k.

So long as 'how they treat women' doesn't affect you personally.

I have never travelled there and never will because of how they treat women.
Lots of other places too for the same reason.

I wouldn't spend one penny of my money in those countries - because of how they treat women.

I know a lot about India. No, I would not go there. I have a lot of issues with Modi, and moreover, I do not think it's safe for women to travel there, which is obviously linked to the misogyny problem. Some areas are quieter and safer, but I still wouldn't do it for the reasons mentioned above. Unsure why you were using it as a gotcha- did you think I would go there?

India doesn't have a kafala system & it is a democracy, if a flawed one. Gay sex is not illegal, DV is illegal. It isn't as bad as the UAE. Notably, though, the UAE allows a husband to physically 'discipline' his wife legally, and marital rape is legal there, as it is in India.

I’ve often wondered this. It’s been volatile since before I was born.
yes the UAE have done a fantastic job of marketing it and securing peace for their nations to make it attractive to tourists and investors over the last 20-40 years. But it’s still in a volatile place alway with the possibility of bubbling over

Oh, all true. I just think that if you discount all the places that are morally questionable, then that's a LOT of places. So you miss out on a lot of experience of the world. And also on the things those places collectively have to offer. Reading about their history and art and culture in books isn't really the same. You could always mitigate the effects by not staying at glitzy places but locally owned hotels and by eating at locally owned restaurants.

You mentioned India as a good place to go, I thought.

The UK only made marital rape illegal in the Nineties, btw.

I've spent the last ten years of my life poor - in and out of work - which has restricted where I could go anyway

Again - do you think staying local mitigates oppression? I don't think it does.

But travelling there and spending money full stop you are still supporting the government to hurt other people. You become another person who has gone to their wonderful place and it supports marketing for their country, increases their money overall and continues the cycle.

It is better to break the cycle not visiting. Money talks.

But then they have to pass the morality test and that could be tricky. Some could argue that GB might want to avoid too much scrutiny on that one. We pride ourselves on our liberal values, minimum wage and health&safety laws. But we are just outsourcing our guilt by buying virtually everything cheaply from countries that we like to feel morally superior too. The reality is we wouldn't be able to afford our lifestyle and our values if we had to produce everything ourselves.

I know that. I posted earlier on about my mums domestic violence situation. Battering your wife was just a domestic in the 80s too. But I don't think saying how awful the UK has been in the past makes it ok that some women have less rights in 2026 elsewhere in the world.

People on here are trying to justify why they holiday in a country with such a poor record on human rights

Me going on holiday to Dubai wouldn't help someone who was suffering from oppression

bafta16 on the page before this one said:

Vile and true. [Re. the problems with Dubai.] Really if you are so thick to go there, you deserve all you get.