Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai says people laughed when he suggested the UAE could develop into a holiday hotspot.
In a message on social media, Sheikh Mohammed highlighted a recent World Tourism Organisation report, which ranked the UAE fourth in the world for international spending.
Visitors spent AED224bn ($61bn) in the UAE last year, according to the WTO report, placing the country behind only the US, Spain and the UK.
Dubai ruler applauds UAE tourism growth
Despite the meteoric growth in the UAE tourism sector, the vision was not always clear to others.
In a personal post on social media, Sheikh Mohammed has shared details of how he was laughed at when suggesting a tourist-friendly vision in the 1980s.
He said: “On the sidelines of one of the Cooperation Council meetings in the 1980s, while the ministers were discussing the crises that the region is going through and the endless challenges, I was in my mid-thirties and I was the youngest person in the session and the most bored of the endless political talk
“I asked to talk, and I suggested the ministers have a different proposal: Why don’t we develop the Gulf cities into global tourist destinations and can we start from Dubai?
“All eyes turned to me and there was a little silence before it was interrupted by the laughter of one of the older foreign ministers.
“He said: ‘What will tourists find in Dubai and our Gulf cities? The desert, sand, heat and humidity!’ and the rest laughed.
“Then he added a tone of experience to his speech and said: ‘Sheikh Mohammed, where is the cultural and civilisational heritage and human history in Dubai so that people can visit it?
“I did not argue with him, but I felt sad because we do not make better use of our wealth, we do not trust our youth, and we do not try anything different other than what we know and are familiar with”.
Sheikh Mohammed went on to highlight the journey the country has been on, by sharing results of the UN report.
He said: “Two days ago, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation report was issued. The UAE ranked fourth in the world in international tourist spending, with a total of AED224bn last year alone, outperforming ancient countries such as France, Italy, Turkey, and Germany in international tourist spending.
“Only the United States preceded us in the ranking. Spain and Britain.
“I read the report and remembered my friend, the Foreign Minister”.
Top 10 tourism earners in 2022
- USA, $135bn
- Spain, $73bn
- UK, $68bn
- UAE, $61bn
- France, $60bn
- Italy, $41bn
- Turkey, $41bn
- Germany, $32bn
- Mexico, $28bn
- Canada, $24bn
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