Analysts predict that because the UAE government continues investing in the tourism and travel industry, dazzling people with the city’s wealth and architectural extravagance, tourists will flock to Dubai even more eagerly in the century’s new decade.
Tourists’ interest in Dubai is on the rise. While in 2016, the city attracted 15 million people, in 2018 the number of visitors grew to 16,66 million. In its popularity among tourists, Dubai lags behind only three cities – Bangkok, London, and Paris, which in 2018 were visited by 21.98 million, 20.42 million, and 17.95 million people respectively. Last year, Dubai even outperformed Singapore, hosting several million tourists more, even though Singapore is always listed among the ten most visited cities in the world.
Analysts predict that because the UAE government continues investing in the tourism and travel industry, dazzling people with the city’s wealth and architectural extravagance, tourists will flock to Dubai even more eagerly in the century’s new decade. If you plan to travel to the UAE in the near future, we are giving you several useful tips on how to prepare for your trip, because some of local attractions and customs might appear mind-boggling for westerners. But even before you start organizing your trip and mapping out your itinerary, ensure that you have installed a VPN for Dubai in your computer, since internet censorship in the country is severe. Without a Virtual Private Network working in the UAE, you will be cut off not only from your favorite websites but also from your family and friends, unable to reach them on Skype or through WhatsApp.
It might indeed surprise you that the country so technologically advanced as the UAE is simultaneously so hidebound in its approach to the internet. But truth be told, its censorship is considered as rigid as in North Korea and China, the countries notorious for their dictatorship and mass surveillance. Like government in North Korea or China, the UAE’s authorities crack down on any content deemed offensive to their ethics and morality. To this category are assigned pornographic, anti-religious, and gambling websites.
But the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) goes further and also blocks Wikipedia, Instagram, WhatsApp, Skype, Twitter, and Snapchat. Altogether there are 267 websites that were censored in the first quarter of 2019. Using these websites is considered a criminal offence under the UAE law. Those who break the law are forced to pay a whopping fine – from 500,000 AED to 2,000,000 AED, which is equivalent to 136,122 or 544,491 US dollars. Or law offenders simply become incarcerated. To avoid imprisonment, while still accessing Twitter and Instagram, you need to equip yourself with a good VPN that is not blocked in Dubai, because some of VPNs are forbidden by the countries’ authorities.
Travelling in Dubai without your favorite websites or Netflix presents challenges, but so does the local weather. Do not book your trip to the United Arab Emirates on the spur of the moment, because the weather there might be scorching hot, as it usually is in the spring and summer. Temperature in this season climbs in Dubai to 50 degrees °C. Chances are that you will not find such heat likable and will not venture outside, sightseeing Dubai only through the window of your taxi or hotel. The best time to travel to Dubai is, therefore, between November and March, when temperature is on average a pleasant 22 °C degree. In such weather, you will enjoy loitering through local bazars without becoming dehydrated or sun stricken.
But if such mild temperature still feels hot, you may always find shelter at local bus stops. In Dubai, they are equipped with air conditioners. When you are wandering through the city and need a breath of chill air, you can cool yourself in a pleasantly ventilated cabin of a bus station. Or you can stop for a coffee break in a specially designed café shop where temperature is maintained below a zero degree. Such café shops, not infrequent in Dubai, are built to recreate the wintery atmosphere of northern countries. They are decorated with winter attributes and require customers to wear warm clothes. Yet if packing sweaters, gloves, and scarf in your suitcase, when flying to Dubai, seems outlandish to you, try to book your trip there on Christmas, New Year Eve, or the Valentine’s Day. In this season, the weather in Dubai is tolerable and will not make you poignantly nostalgic for snow and cold.
Although you might be reluctant to pack warm clothes for your vacation in Dubai, you still need to give your wardrobe some thought. Not every outfit is wearable in the United Arab Emirates. For its authorities discourage the display of flesh in public places. Men’s naked chests and female’s exposed arms and legs will raise local eyebrows and might get you fined. Take with you, then, the least revealing and tight clothes, when you travel to Dubai. You do not need to imitate the Emirates people by wearing traditional Islamic clothing, but you will appear respectful of their customs and avoid embarrassment, when you walk in Dubai’s malls in modest attires.
If you take all these above-mentioned precautions, your journey to Dubai will go smoothly. There are a lot of dazzling buildings and breath-taking tourist attractions in the United Arab Emirates that you will definitely keep in your memory long after your return from your holidays.
