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It may seem incongruous or even insensitive to host a $20 million party in the current economic climate but, once again, Dubai has shown strength and vision that will improve its long term prospects.
I watched the opening party of Atlantis the Palm on the television in the UK. The country’s most popular breakfast television show, GMTV, was broadcasting live twice per hour from one of Palm Island’s fronds.
The coverage included red carpet interviews with Hollywood Oscar winners, multi-million album selling singers, business billionaires, and even some minor European royals.
Breakfast TV viewers feasted on footage of the most spectacular firework display since the Beijing Olympics; lapped up the glamour of the world’s most beautiful women; and envied at the presenter reporting in his shirt sleeves from beneath clear blue Dubai skies.
The talk over Friday brunch in Dubai will be about how unfair it is that the world’s glitterati had favoured access to the Atlantis celebrations, while those living in the city were not even allowed to set foot on Palm Island for two days prior to the event.
This though would be missing the point. The cost of the world’s most lavish hotel opening party was not just an ego trip for the resort’s owners, or even a marketing stunt to push up its revenue per average room.
It was a Dubai government-backed initiative to show the world that the city remains one of the most spectacular tourist destinations in the world, and that it will serve as an oasis of delight in a global desert of gloom.
The world is entering a downturn in tourism and business travel that will last into 2010. But while every destination will be affected, including Dubai, some will suffer more than others.
The positive coverage gained from Atlantis’s $20 million party will prove to be a masterstroke of marketing that will ensure Dubai has the best possible chance to weather the coming storm.
By the end of what is going to be a global recession, expect the emirate to emerge even more dominant against its competitors than it is today.
