To think most Dubai naysayers are hypocrites

[WhisperedLoudest]

Not at TAAT more a TAA lot of threads.

Repeatedly on MN people say they'd never go to Dubai because of Human Rights issues at the same time as announcing they'd much rather go to do yoga in India or sightseeing in Morocco.

It seems rather hypocritical and an attitude that is very particular to Dubai and I suspect something to do with being perceived as trashy not disagreeing there

So if you have objections to Dubai on moral grounds where do you go? Do you apply same strict standard to other countries.

I've often asked on those threads where people do go but never received much of a response.

Yes, I wondered about this the other day. I quite want to go to Dubai but I feel like I 'shouldn't', because of human rights issues - not that I know enough to be able to sum them up succinctly. I mentioned at work the other day that I'd seen good deals for this time of year online and you'd have thought I'd said I was planning on eating a puppy.

I also want to go to Russia, which I feel similarly about.

It'll be interesting over the coming years to see how many people stop holidaying in the US, as a protest against their oppressive government and human rights abuses!

I wouldn't go to Dubai simply because I wouldn't want to risk being arrested for something so minor!

Us holiday bookings already down.

www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/north-america/united-states/articles/trump-travel-ban-has-casts-a-shadow-over-us-tourism/

However, according to the WTTC, bookings to the US are already faltering.
“There have been reports that flight inquiries from Europe to the US have been down 30 per cent since the inauguration of President Trump,” said a spokesperson.

It's a place that in modern day times is built on slavery.

I would feel uncomfortable visiting there as a tourist.

I don't agree with how they treat women.
There are other places I also wouldn't visit as a woman.
Eqypt, Morocco to name a few.

I do agree that there are other places that may be worse but Dubai is a popular destination now that's why it gets brought up a lot.

Personally I've not seen anyone say they'd not go to Dubai because of human rights abuses and go on to say they'd visit somewhere that is equally bad.

Maybe it's the press colouring my view but I wouldn't go to anywhere in the middle East or to Russia. I think there's too much risk of their issues/expectations being applied to foreigners whereas a country like China whilst it has a pretty poor human rights record I wouldn't feel unsafe there.

I wouldn't want to go to Dubai because the idea of all that opulence in the middle of a desert is so wasteful and I couldn't imagine anything worse than an artificial city disconnected from the natural world. I like holidays where I can see new and exciting ecosystems that I can't see at home. I can shop and sit in air conditioned restaurants at home so don't understand the appeal of somewhere like dubai.

It holds no interest for me as a tourist destination.
As a woman, I don't want to visit. Also applies to quite a few other countries.

I loved it!
Stayed on-route to the Maldives.
Stayed for 4 nights in The Atlantis The Palm and spent 3 days in the water park- bliss in the heat.
Had afternoon tea up the Burj Kalifa and bought a Michael Kors handbag.
People boycotting Dubai wont change the past.

Ecological ,social nightmare. There are places in the middle East with much better heritage to visit. If all people want is shopping ,heat and service, why not book into a 5* spa down the road and put the shopping channel on the telly?

Neither yoga in India or sightseeing in Morocco appeal to be as it goes, but I really wouldn't go to Dubai because when I go away I want to relax and have freedom which I don't feel I'd have over there.

Additionally, because of the confluence of my particular gene pool, I have very difficult to distinguish ethnic background and lots of people think I'm Arabic. To be constantly asked 'why are you with a white boy', 'why aren't you covering your hair like you should' and 'why are you drinking' etc. (as I was in Egypt) is not the kind of nonsense I want on holiday and perhaps wrongly, I think it would be worse there.

I go to the Caribbean for preference and then places like Cornwall or the Isle of Wight.

Dubai is high risk for a terrorist attack at the moment I believe, which is why I wouldn't go.

The thing is, if a group of MNers boycott Dubai as a holiday destination, it is not going to make one tiny bit of difference to the economy or workers conditions or women´s rights, etc. So by posting over and over again that they are not going to go, they aren´t actually making any sort of real contribution. To me it seems like it is all for show, "see how morally and ethically better than other I am" stuff (of course, some of these posters might be involved in organizations or campaigns to change conditions in Dubai, which is great and I fully support them in that extremely challenging task). But berating someone for going for a few days´ holiday there, seems to be like an exercise in putting someone else down to feel good about who they are.

I won't go because of human and animal abuse there, lots of other countries too, so my destination list is quite limited. My neighbour lived there for six years, it still haunts me to hear of what they do there.

I have rescued a dog from Cyprus and paid for the flights over and everything else, I am trying to do my own tiny bit.

Every time I come on MN I learn something else I'm supposed to be snobby about. Maybe because I didn't grow up middle class, I had no idea there were so many things people were judging me for. It's a real eye opener!

We stayed in Dubai as part of our honeymoon and found it fascinating - it's a different way of life like any other culture and isn't intrinsically worth less just because it's more modern.

sonjadog see, I think it will make a difference as they want tourism, they will improve things that tourists want/care about.

I don't think so. However, I think that some people need to justify their behaviour by believing that anyone else would behave in the same way.

If you really don't give a bollocks about the fifty ways in which Dubai is awful, that's fine as long as you own your lack of unconcern, the real hypocrisy is in claiming that no one else is bothered.

I would never go to Dubai, though I know a lot of people that go regularly, and they think I'm bonkers.
We go in the UK, and Europe, mainly Germany, France, Scandinavia, but most years we cannot afford to go abroad tbh. I also try not to fly, as it's so unsound environmentally.
I have refused to visit the US since they introduced fingerprinting for UK visitors. I am not a criminal.
I wouldn't go to Thailand or Singapore either.

That´s great, Comingup. I believe that we all have to find the thing we are passionate about and do our tiny bit to change it. And if millions of us are doing it, then we can really make a difference.

Or Maldives or Seychelles

So if you have objections to Dubai on moral grounds where do you go? Do you apply same strict standard to other countries.

Quite.

We had an interesting discussion a few months ago and one poster relaly did have a v strong ethical view and it was interesting discussion where she did go on holiday. Not that many places available!

There's literally thousands of places I wouldn't touch with a bargepole for a holiday - including Centre Parcs, any of the Disney Parks, Israel, any country where white women get hissed at and hassled in the street. At the moment I won't contemplate a trip to the US either. The world is vast and no one can ever know it all. But why anyone would go to Dubai of all the godforsaken places in earth is completely beyond me. Personally, I enjoy my travels around Europe.

It's a country built on migrant slave labour that is incrediably wealthy yet makes the choice to treat migrant workers terribly and pay them as little as possible and keep them living in conditions that are appalling (often passports are taken away) it's just so unnecessary as the money is certainly there you can see it all around you for the system to treat migrant workers far far better

India, Egypt, Morocco are very different countries/societies they certainly do have issues regarding treatment of women and human rights laws and corruption but they are old countries/societies that are changing not always for the better

I'm not sure if it's as much hypocrisy as it is myopia. People have a hard time seeing outside their own viewpoints. Travel, funnily enough, is one of the things that challenge a persons viewpoint. I live in Dubai, I've lived elsewhere in the ME. I've lived in South Korea and visited Japan, China and North Korea. My rose-tinted glasses fell off a long time ago and I certainly know there is nowhere in the world that's "perfect" or "safe."

Honestly, I was more afraid of running afoul of the law for a minor reason in China and Mexico than I am here in Dubai. I've come across far more entrenched racism and corruption in South Korea than I have in Dubai.

I've seen human trafficking in every country I've visited (36 and counting).

Human rights wise, my grandmother was First Nations Canadian and denied status because she refused to live on a reserve. 3000 First Nations women have disappeared in Canada and the RCMP don't give a fuck.

In the USA I saw people living in more poverty than I saw in Cuba.

In Kenya I saw desperation and corruption on a level I never want to see again.

I felt more afraid walking at night in Durham or even my home town of Hailfax, Nova Scotia than I have in Dubai. I was aggressively fondled in a bar in New Castle, I've never had that happen in Doha. I was punched in a bar in Seoul by a USA serviceman, I've never been physically assaulted anywhere else in the world.

In 11 years in the ME I've seen a lot of change. Laws are changing to protect migrant workers. Just the other day Doha, Qatar finally got rid of the exit visa requirement, and the UAE is imposing minimum wages for housemaids in coordination with workers embassies.

It's not perfect. Far from. But nowhere is perfect, and I'm not so foolish as to think I can change a place by never going there.

I wouldn't go partly because it doesn't sit comfortably with me. We've only been to EU countries in the last 10 years and mostly do UK holidays.