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AIBU?

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Original poster

To wonder why people go on holiday to Dubai

108 replies

AllFallDown · 30/03/2011 19:57

I realise every country has its ethical issues. But Dubai? How can people bear to go to a place being built on slave labour - and not the slave labour of 150 years ago, but right now.

OP posts:
oranges · 30/03/2011 20:24

I went for a week - heavily pregnant with a toddler and exhausted from work. I loved simply floating in the pool in a luxury hotel for a week, but would never ever go back after seeing the workers crammed into buses being taken to and from their awful quarters each day, and having a few of the waitresses be very sweet to my ds and then almost cry talking about their own children far away. I am British Asian, and think a lot of the workers talked to me a bit more than they talk to many guests. The weirdest thing was that unlike any other holiday destination NO people from the actual country ie UAE citizens work in a customer facing role in the actual hotels.

Fresh2death · 30/03/2011 20:26

Isnt it the America of the Gulf with guaranteed sun, luxury and cheap package deals?

thats why people go ..........

TheNumberTaker · 30/03/2011 20:27

I don't think people realise, AllFallDown. I went in my young and naive 20s, to see a colleague/friend (my firm had an office there). Another colleague wanted to get a job out there and I went along for the ride.

I found it horrible, I felt really uneasy there the whole time, but the expats I stayed with and friend I went with (who was considering taking a job there) thought it was great. When I got home I did some research into the conditions there and the penny dropped. I've been interested and deeply depressed in the recent bbc/John Simpson news coverage of the slave conditions of Indian and other non white ethnic workers. There's a brilliant article from 2009 in the Independent about it too, linked here:

www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html

The enslaved and poorly paid are invisible. They are not Arab or white. I imagine they are beneath the notice of most tourists.

adamschic · 30/03/2011 20:27

Shopping! Last thing I want to do when I go on holiday, gawd people need to get a life.

I have been to Dubai, my very close niece worked there and we went to visit her, had a great time, met all her friends, partied etc oh and the beaches aren't man made, you know.

It luxurious, all year round sun, what's not to love. Also there aren't many holiday places that don't have ethical issues. If people didn't go the work wouldn't be there and the economy wouldn't grow.

LaWeasel · 30/03/2011 20:27

I think it's vile, I also cannot comprehend why women would willingly go to a country where if they were raped they would be arrested!!
Or if you get drunk, you'll be arrested.
And with a huge slave labour problem.

For what, shopping and sunshine?

There are lots of other beautiful places with nice shops and sunshine!

Fresh2death · 30/03/2011 20:29

I don't think people realise

i dont think most people care ...

we are all aware of the sweat shop links to Nike, doesnt seem to harm their profit every year

Georgimama · 30/03/2011 20:30

It's a mystery to me how the likes of Abbie Clancy and Peter Crouch go on holiday there at all. They aren't married, according to the laws of UAE they are committing "adultery" and are liable to be prosecuted. I've been through Dubai and it looked like a hot, tacky dump in the middle of a desert. If you want to go to a hot, tacky dump in the middle of a desert could I recommend Las Vegas instead?

charlieandlola · 30/03/2011 20:32

We have been to DBX on holiday and would go again. You really have to suspend your beliefs to go there. All there is to do is shopping, golf and beach. It is perfect for a 5 night break in the winter, which is when we go. The ruling sheihk said he would create a western city in the desert and he has done just that - never mind that it is built upon the bones of the workers. And no thanks to the local laws that mean Emiratis are almost above the law. Fortunes have been made there and are currently being lost too.
If you are going to eliminate countries to visit on the basis of their human rights ethic, then that pretty much eliminates the US ( treatment of Indians), Australia ( ditto the Aborigines), any Middle eastern country pretty much, Asia is not much better, and lets not forget China, the Koreas, Thailand, etc etc etc.

nailak · 30/03/2011 20:32

i wouldnt o, it sounds dull

TheNumberTaker · 30/03/2011 20:42

I suppose I should admit that I am British Asian so a bit hyper-sensitive to situations which, thanks to good fortune, my parents or I might have found ourselves in. I think part of why I found it so awful is because I'm from Indian sub-continent decent and working class. My parents could easily have ended up there (my dad had a choice of countries to go and work in, the Gulf States included).

The Indian and other non-Arab or non-White workers are treated as third class citizens or worse and this attitude was totally bought into by the western (mostly white, but not all) ex-pats I met there. They were people who would be on pretty average salaries and who would have a very modest lifestyle in the jobs they were doing if they'd been in the UK. Out there, their tax free salaries and cheap labour bought into a lifestyle that included plush apartments, swimming pools live in maids etc, conditions they could only dream of in the UK. All fine in themselves, but not if what you get is effectively bonded labour paying the price. I think the lifestyle becomes intoxicating and to enjoy it, you need to ignore the conditions of the "working classes" there.

My time with my hosts came to an abrupt end when I suggested we (the guests) might think about getting a bus to a place we wanted to visit. She gave me a pretty disdainful look and said, "The bus is for the Indians". It took her about 30 seconds to realise who she was talking to.

Interestingly, I was talking about this to my friend who went out there for the job (didn't work there in the end). She said the host friend had really changed living there. We talked a bit about the John Simpson report. My friend just shrugged her shoulders about it in a "it's terrible, but what can you do?" way. I think she'd still go and work/live there if she could.

LaWeasel · 30/03/2011 20:42

I think it's very unfair to lump in places like America and Australia who are generally trying to rectify there human rights record, with Dubai where the sheik genuinely does not give a shit.

I know a lot of people who have worked for Sheik Mohammed in th UK and they were always treated very well, he is extremely wealthy and influential. He could do something about it if he wanted to - but he doesn't.

And not to bang on about this, but

if you go there and you are raped it's you that will get arrested. And rape is relatively common, there.

Why would you take a risk like that for such little pay off?

glastocat · 30/03/2011 20:43

Who was that poor bloke who they jailed because he had stepped on a tiny bit of dope and it stuck to his shoe. He did time for possession! That, and all the other reasons mentionned would make me stay well away!

GreenEyesandHam · 30/03/2011 20:43

An eye opening article TheNumberTaker thank you

fartblossom · 30/03/2011 20:51

not read it all, but I dont fancy just cos Im scared I'll get arrested and put into prison or something. DH thinks Im mad to think that, but no really dont fancy it.

CaveMum · 30/03/2011 20:51

I used to work for Sheikh Mo in this country (on his stud farm) and his workers are very well treated here.
I know people who work for his racing yard and live in Dubai for 6 months of the year (the horses spend the winter in Dubai and come back to the UK in April). They tell me that Dubai is like a surreal bubble.

Whilst it is not a defence, Dubai is probably the most westernised of the emirates. Whilst drinking is banned for the locals it is permitted in hotels and ex-pat communities.

adamschic · 30/03/2011 20:53

Same as India and South Africa and many other places, but tourists still go. Not everyone that visit such countries are immune to the less than perfect conditions. Well some might be but not right to tar everyone with the same brush.

Everywhere we go there are people working to provide the services that we consume.

Panzee · 30/03/2011 20:55

Even before I found out about the slave labour I thought it was odd. Almost as if it had too much money, they didn't know what to do with it. I will not go there.

hardhatdonned · 30/03/2011 20:55

I have several relatives living out there and all i can say is - tax free

adamschic · 30/03/2011 21:02

Just read the link and realise I have read it before. I'm sorry but if you go and live in a foreign country you should familarise yourself with their laws and regulations and live within them. I think about this before I visit somewhere for a couple of weeks.

munkysea · 30/03/2011 21:11

I've been over there a few times to visit DP's family and for work. I agree with the ethical concerns people have about how some of the migrant workers are treated, especially those in construction and service jobs, although things have improved since the bad days of 2007 etc.

However the shopping is rubbish. Why on earth you'd fly 7 hours to traipse around the same shops you get on the high street for the privilege of paying more than you would in the UK I do not know. Plus the clothes are all more expensive. There may be no income tax, but the municipal taxes bite hard. Oh, and AFAIK most, if not all, food and drink is flown in, which makes it even more expensive.

Dubai doesn't seem to have anything to offer that you can't do or buy elsewhere without all the above drawbacks, although there's a certain novelty to skiing one day and dune bashing the next, I guess. At least it's not Kuwait!

If you do go, visit the cultural lunch at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding for the opportunity to sample local Emirate food, and chat with an Emirati bloke about the country.

DilysPrice · 30/03/2011 21:13

I'm baffled as to why an unmarried couple would go to the UAE. Surely you are putting yourself in a very vulnerable position by essentially declaring yourself to be a moral criminal as soon as you check in to a double room and relying on the greed of the host nation to turn a blind eye.
But to be fair I haven't looked into the legalities because nobody has offered me the enormous bribe it would take to make me travel there - not my idea of a holiday at all.

adamschic · 30/03/2011 21:25

I think you are probably safe enough as they have agreed to let westerners stay there liberally. I wouldn't recommend having sex on a beach there but I wouldn't recommend doing it anywhere in the world. Also cover up as you would in any muslim country, although Dubai isn't a strict muslim country.

coccyx · 30/03/2011 21:29

the palm atlantis. 5 star luxury. fab, spoilt rather by the daytrippers blocking the shopping arcade bit and taking photos of the ceiling!

ccpccp · 30/03/2011 21:36

Not sure what is baffling you OP? The 'slaves' in Dubai are actually in a better position than most of their rest of the 3rd world population. They have jobs and are getting paid. Sitting on ones arse and claiming benefits isnt an option for most of the world.

hairfullofsnakes · 30/03/2011 21:39

Like you said OP - every country has ethical issues. You would not go anywhere if you thought of all of the issues countries have

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