Dubai’s New Metro
Opening today is the new Dubai Metro. Nothing odd about that you might think. Cities the world over are providing public transport as either a green solution or a congestion solver or both. The difference with Dubai is that in only four and a half years it has already opened the first forty odd kilometres. The whole 70 kilometre system will be open in 2012.
Its another case, like the rail link to New Delhi’s iternational airport, of completing infrastructure projects quickly so that tourists ( and, of course, locals) can get around more easily. And that means getting out of the city and visiting some of the places that aren’t quite on the international tourist trail just yet.
And Dubai has something else to crow about. Tourism has slumped in many countries and we did hear that the Gulf states had been hit hard by job losses and projects not being completed. But Dubai has recently announced a 4% increase in tourist numbers. Hotel prices have dropped and airfares are about the same price as if you flying the Atlantic. I confess, I thought tourist numbers would drop. What seems to have happened is that Dubai has managed to keep offering something new to the traveller to tempt them to continue to visit.
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