Would you choose Dubai as a holiday destination?

[Letshopenextyearisbetter]

Colleague told me excitedly she has booked to go to Dubai with her family for two weeks. I said ‘Oh wow!’ But really I was thinking 😬
I realise we all like different things, but just curious if you’d choose to spend your money on going to Dubai? I can personally think of some really lovely places to go for that amount of money, especially over Christmas

Never

Yep... going soon & can't wait!

racist homophobic shit hole built on slave labour. No I wouldn't not be excited about it....

For those who go (regularly), I guess the real question is, is the reputation justified? What have people heard that are not true? What precautions should you take to make it an enjoyable holiday?

It's like everything though, we all have different opinions and different likes and dislikes like you say.

Just because your first thought was 'no' doesn't mean hers is. Her first thought at your holiday destination might be 'no'

This post gives me a funny feeling, like you think she's a certain type of person for holidaying there, or spending her money to go there? Why do you feel like that about Dubai and/or her? What makes it such a 😆 ?

No, we are two woman who are married to each other, can't see us being welcome, not that l have much interest anyway.

Never ever due to human rights, climate and culture issues. Would make me depressed. DH wanted to go one year and until then I didn't know that he was unaware about world politics to that point. Some people are so unaware that for them it's just a sunny resort with influencers hiding tax money away whereas I'm utterly disgusted by everything associated with it.

Nope after learning about what happened to the princess that ran away to the uk. The fact it's built on slaves and tourists arrested for showing a little flesh absolutely no. I can't get my head around how so many people don't care ctap about stuff like this also their stance on lgbt rights

Because of their human rights issues and that it was built with slaves and many people die building their buildings

Well, yes, any consumer decision, how you spend your money, says something about who we are. And yes, a certain type of person holidays in Dubai, just as a certain type of person holidays on the Costa Brava, or goes wild camping in the UK, or has a second home in Cornwall.

This, and the slave labour that others have highlighted.

It also just doesn’t appeal to me/ not my idea of fun, but if it weren’t for the above I would obviously be more open minded about the idea.

Exactly! I spend my holidays in Italy and France mostly. I wander around cathedrals and museums.

That scant info will give people a (fairly accurate) impression of me.

There are other holidays that I wouldn't spend money to go on but I wouldn't go to Dubai even if it was free.

No. I couldn't bear to spend my money and take myself to somewhere that treats people so awfully.

No ! I did a 3 day stop over on the way back from a holiday in Australia and that was enough to say I’ve seen it / been there. No desire to spend anymore time there. Largely a concrete and glass jungle with displays of completely OTT opulence while the workers are clearly immigrants and paid peanuts.

I'd be interested to see what it's like, if it's as awful as I expect, but I don't intend to spend my precious holidays on going there to find out.

Plus the human rights issues make it doubly certain that I won't be going there.

I think I'd like to go for a day to experience Atlantis the Palm. Obviously I'm not going to do that.
I don't think it appeals to me enough to warrant the amount of money it costs to go there. There are much nicer places.

It's mumsnet - everyone hates Dubai.

Even though they've never been 🤣

No. I stopped off there once for a couple of days in between long haul flights out of curiosity and to break up a long journey but I wouldn’t go there again. Even without all the human rights problems it is very expensive compared to pretty much every other country I have been to and I don’t understand why it would be anyone’s first choice of holiday destination.

I've been many times both with work and a couple of holidays. However, I would probably not go back now due to how expensive it is plus it is so built up. I started going in the 80's when it was a completely different place. As Emirate states go, it is fairly liberal and you do not get arrested for not dressing appropriately. Maybe hissed at by locals though. Alcohol is freely available in most hotels and restaurants.

Women are definitely second class citizens though as are Westerners in general. Don't ever get involved in a car accident regardless as to whether it is your fault, the Arab driver will always be blameless! Terrible human rights (or lack of them) for migrant workers.

Just to say, there are many other countries that do not tolerate homosexuality including the Maldives. Would you refuse to go there on principle too?

@TheGoddessFreyja
Nope, would much rather go to a country that needs my economic support like Cuba, Sri Lanka etc

You won’t go to Dubai but you’re happy to go to Cuba which has an appalling human rights record, ‘disappears’ demonstrators and crushes any dissent?

AFAIK neither of these places are CURRENTLY using slaves. Unlike Dubai!

No.

A friend recently went with her family for two weeks and they all really enjoyed it. The hotel they stayed in looked really luxurious, and the younger child seemed to have lots to do with attractions and activities.

I've only passed through the airport and I'm not particularly interested in seeing the rest of it (I imagine it all looks a lot like the airport) but presumably it's a good choice for some families.

@TheConvalescent What kind of people are the other types?