Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
FellatioNelson · 30/03/2011 22:57

I've been to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Oman several times. Whilst I agree there is very little in the way of culture, or things to see outside the manmade tourist attractions, it's tough to beat as a place for perfect winter/spring weather, beautiful hotels, fantastic service and wonderful food. Not all of the hotel are glitzy and tacky in these places - some of them are incredibly beautiful - and the desert can be incredibly beautiful too.

I take on board what has been said about the very poor working conditions for the immigrant non-white workers - it is a shock when you experience it for the first time, but TBH if you travel anywhere outside Europe where you see people living in poverty and working in horrendous conditions it's a shock. This is by no means confined to Dubai or other gulf states. Of course you could refuse to go on principle, but then those people would not have jobs at all if it were not for the demand created by tourism.

A relative of mine lived in the UAE for years and she said it is frowned upon to overpay your maid, or to give her two days a week off when others generally only get one, etc, as it upsets the delicate balance. If they became accustomed to more money then many expats woud not be able to afford them at all, and then there would be fewer jobs for them. As someone upthread pointed out these expats are not necessarily terribly well paid, but they are able to give a maid a home and a job in spite of that. They want those jobs, believe it or not, because it's better than the alternative.

I've seen the way the rich Arab women treat their maids and a job with a western family must be a bloody dream in comparison.

kittya · 30/03/2011 23:01

I would go to Abu Dhabi rather than Dubai. Its true though what one poster said, all my Indian friends love to go to Dubai. Its never appealed to me.

FellatioNelson · 30/03/2011 23:14

Abu Dhabi is much nicer IMO.

GetOrfMoiLand · 30/03/2011 23:18

I agree with the OP. I have been to Dubai a few times and thoroughly dislike it.

My XP had a business out there, he owned a work compound in the Al Qhoz district, where he had a workshop. He effectively owned 20-odd workers (mostly Filipino or Indian) as they were indentured workers - my XP leased the workshop and accomodation and the workers came with. They had no choice as they 'owed' the owner and couldn't leave until they paid of their debts (which would be the 12th of never). I felt sickened that my DP was part of this.

My XP bought a flat out there, on viewing it all the rooms were large, plush and air conditioned, apart from what I assumed was a closet off the kitchen, which was windowless and had no air con. I found out that this was the maid's accomodation.

Poor sods.

complexnumber · 30/03/2011 23:21

Once you land at Dubai, wait a short while and then take a flight to Muscat, Oman.
Then enjoy fantastic scenary, genuinely friendly people, awesome historic sites and a heck of a less traffic.

Once you have visited this heaven, you'll have a problem getting back on the plane to Dubai, and then to the hurly-burly of UK suburban 'life'

But that's ok, you can always come again soon.

sweetgilly · 30/03/2011 23:26

AllFallDown

Erm...like others have said, shopping, weather, beaches, culture, beautiful desert, only 6 hrs flight time.

Can't really say I give 'slave labour' much thought, tbh.

Anyway, good luck with saving the planet.

Croxlea · 30/03/2011 23:33

I know you don't think this but a lot of those people in slave labour as you call it are supporting families back in there home country. they chose to go as the option of staying was starving or begging on the streets for some of these people.

Unless you have travelled and talked to some of these people you have no idea of the poverty they have come from and sending a wage back home and supporting their family is paramount.

Yes there are issues with the way some of these people are treated, and I know a lot of them would rather work for an Ex-pat than an Arab. But securing a position and sending money home is a lot of the time the only option.

Why on earth would you think you would be raped. it is in fact a very safe place to live and work!

INeedALieIn · 30/03/2011 23:43

Chav-Vegas. Sun, sea, sand. Sounds like my idea of heaven.

Unfortunately we'll be sleeping under canvass in Bognor (or similar) again this year :(

helibee · 31/03/2011 01:05

My dh had to go there for work and was horrified by the slave labour in the construction industry. He is a structural Engineer so saw some of it first hand.

Dh's company also sent a woman over there for work and she was detained at the airport and they threatened to throw her in prison for being a whore. She was travelling on her own for work so they equated her not being married at 23 to mean that she must be there to seduce their men with her western ways Hmm

I can't go there anyway as the medication I take is illegal there, even with a prescription and a drs letter!

helibee · 31/03/2011 01:10

Croxlea, but those supporting their families are mainly from India. They have their passports confiscated so that they cannot leave. They are paid virtually nothing for working in incredibly hot and humid weather and in dreadful working conditions. None of the building sites are safe.

There was an undercover documentary about this a few years ago as well. My dh had colleagues in Dubai who left because they were appalled at what was going on and they felt they couldn't do anything to help other than report it, but the reports went uninvestigated.

CheerfulYank · 31/03/2011 01:15

I think things would change and in a hurry, if Western tourist said they wouldn't go anymore.

GloriaSmut · 31/03/2011 01:18

Dubai is vile. My dss worked there last year installing the largest ever video screen (everything has to be the "largest ever" in Dubai) and he was truly horrified at the slave labour and atrocious conditions that a mainly hidden workforce suffer from. I'd strongly urge people to bypass the hideous place.

As for comments like "People would never go anywhere if they worried about all of the ethical issues regarding a place." I treat them with contempt. There's every reason to make ethical choices about where you travel. Especially if all you intend doing is shopping. If more people were driven by conscience, rather than materialism, places like Dubai might have to consider the consequences of encouraging slave labour.

worraliberty · 31/03/2011 01:24

I have a gay cousin who lives out there with his partner. I do really worry about them but they stay there because of the business they own Sad

CheerfulYank · 31/03/2011 01:36

I agree 100% with you Gloria.

sugared · 31/03/2011 01:37

The fact that most of it is bloody man made sinking islands wouldn't get me there for blood nor money!

A place for the Rich, the wannabes and stupid laws!

Kuantanamera · 31/03/2011 04:39

IMO Dubai is one of the most boring places I've ever been. I lived and worked there. It's completely soul-less, there are no trees or birds or nature. You can't walk anywhere for over half a year because of the excessive humidity.

On the other hand there are people who seem to like holidaying in a luxury hotel and not leaving it for a week. If you are happy doing that and sitting round a pool then you might as well be there as anywhere else. Not my cuppa tea.

PS I've never understood this "shopping" thing in Dubai. All chains..nothing you can't get anywhere else or on the internet (all cheaper)

RoyalBlingThing · 31/03/2011 05:24

believe it or not a lot of expats living here are not monsters but you carry on with your self righteous ranting eh?

barbie1 · 31/03/2011 06:14
dubaipieeye · 31/03/2011 06:44

Someone been reading AA Gill's rehashing of all the Dubai bashing articles, OP?

Isn't life a bit more nuanced than 'all expats are chavs/all subcontinent workers are exploited/all the locals are rich and don't care'??? Seriously people do you think ANYWHERE is that black and white?

When I first came here I worked for a company that built labour camps. Yes I did! Funny how no journalist has ever mentioned the camps with gyms/sports complexes/medical facilities/clean canteens serving healthy food (five veg a day campaigns are not limited to UK primary schools, y'know). Yes some people are treated terribly here, no doubt about it. But does anyone want to put their hand on their heart and say the UK is entirely fair? This part of the world has a lot of catching up to do, that is true - but social change takes TIME. The fact that this place attracts lots of good hearted people FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD who just want to make a living, lead a decent life and educate their kids is woefully ignored by the UK press.

Don't want to come, OP? Stay away then! Leave us to our beautiful sunsets, lovely beaches and gorgeous parks, camping in the mountains and the desert (anyone who says Dubai is not beautiful needs to wake up in the silent desert one morning, or watch camels wander past your house, or sit in a fab cafe by the Burj Khalifa for lunch).

Anyway the self righteousness is making me itch, so I am off!!

Lulabel27 · 31/03/2011 07:15

I'd never go back nor recommend it after I was locked in the hotel managers office being questioned about my "business" in the hotel and threatened to be prosecuted.

My crime? I was on a family holiday at 21 with my older brother and parents in one of the very expensive hotels. We'd been for dinner, they wanted drinks in hotel bar, I wanted bed. So I went to bed and got stopped at the lift by security. I told them my room number innocently as they were verifying guests, but the record sheet had only had my brothers name not mine. I explained he was my brother, my parents were In the bar etc but he assumed I was lying and marched me to the hotel managers office and locked the door where 2 men questioned me. I was terrified.

They let me go after about 15 minutes when they checked the records and found my passport copy from when we checked in. Despite a massive complaint from my father the next day and being moved to the Burj as compensation, I will never go back to somewhere that treats people like that...

kreecherlivesupstairs · 31/03/2011 08:15

We used to go to Dubai for glitz and glamour. Compared to Muscat it was super cosmopolitan.
I don't think I'd bother going back though, from what I've seen on the telly it has changed beyond recognition.

Vagabond · 31/03/2011 08:45

{applauds Dubaipieeye} I agree with you entirely!
It seems to have become fashionable to say that Dubai is 'vile'.

LaWeasel · 31/03/2011 08:48

It's not fashionable, it's the truth.

But if you want to be arrested for - more or less - being a woman in the wrong place.

Go ahead.

mowbraygirl · 31/03/2011 09:07

My neighboour asked the other day why we don't go to Dubai for a holiday better than the boring places we go to. I don't like to boast but we have been very lucky to have been able to go in the past couple of years to Australia for a month (Iam Australian) Italian Lakes twice Las Vegas and Malta not places that I call boring.

She has never been to Dubai too hot she says but her friend goes at least twice a year. When I enquired exactly what she finds to do there it was shopping or laying around the pool relaxing the friend takes at least 6 books to read and of course they stay in a 5* hotel. All that would drive DH absolutely potty we like to get out and about on a holiday and aren't really into shopping.

FellatioNelson · 31/03/2011 10:12

I agree if you like 'things to do and places to visit' you would be bored rigid. I am a lover of places like Tuscany and the Dordogne, but every now and again (esp. between Xmas and Easter) I need a week in total luxury, doing bugger all! I don't think people kid themselves that they go for anything more than that.

I first went to Dubai about ten years ago, then went back about 6 years ago. I must admit we really noticed a change for the worse in between those times so I really wouldn't go now. I wouls still jump at Abu Dhabi, Qatar or Oman etc though, if I just needed some sun and some rest.

And as far as exploitation of poor migrant workers go, yes, it's hideous. But it's equally or perhaps more hideous in their home countries - which is why they go to the gulf states, in spite of everything. If you went to India or China now you would find very similar conditions for blue colour workers and labourers, just like it was in this country around the times of the Industrial revolution - pre unions, pre-votes for women, pre-education for all, pre-national health etc etc. It wasn't that long ago that we sent children up chimneys remember.

That's why India and China are becoming the new economic superpowers. Rightly or wrongly it wouldn't be happening if their workers all had the same rights and safety standards etc as we can expect here.

I'm not defending it in the slightest, but it is a tad unfair to make out it only happens in Dubai.

When we went to Egypt the woman working in the spa was a lovely Chinese lady who had left her 15 year old son at home with her mother - she hadn't managed to go home for several years. Her husband had been murdered in China when her son was just a baby. Personally I blame China for her plight, not the owners fo a spa hotel in Egypt!