City of the future

Renowned for its spectacular glitz and glamour - which doesn’t disappoint if that’s what you’re after - Dubai is a city firmly focused on the future.

Enormous sums are being invested in infrastructure, industry sectors, sustainability and fabulous attractions to entice visitors from around the world.

Extraordinary buildings include the majestically beautiful Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, and the phenomenal Museum of the Future to name but two incredible architectural feats here on land. While the sky’s clearly not the limit as evidenced by Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi becoming the first Arab to spacewalk and female Emirati Nora Al Matrooshi in the four-strong UAE Astronaut Corps at The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre.

However, the Emirate still retains its ancient side - one of tradition and hospitality, magical desert-scapes and evenings of stargazing around the campfire, exotic perfumes, jewellery and spices. The combination provides exciting and surprising itineraries for travel-worn visitors.

Doing bling better

If your participants are in search of designer labels, flashy cars and luxe hotels, Dubai is probably already familiar to you as an events destination. The recently opened Atlantis The Royal attracted headlines with its star-studded opening party and is described as ‘the most ultra-luxury experiential beach resort in the world’. Located on the crescent of Palm Jumeirah, it boasts incredible views from its 795 rooms and there are 44 beautiful suites with private pools and terraces. Home to eight celebrity chef restaurants including the 1 Michelin starred Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, which has its own dedicated lift from the lobby, a further nine world-class restaurants ensure this is fast becoming the place for gastronomic showstoppers.

Nobu by the Beach offers cabanas and an outdoor restaurant while other bars and lounges provide beautiful spaces to while away an evening. There’s a sophisticated nightclub vibe at Cloud 22 and views of the fire and water fountains.

In total Dubai offers more than 150,000 hotel rooms across a range of price points and styles, many offering excellent meeting space, so making a choice is the tough bit. 

The food will be a highlight of any event in the city such is the range and quality. There are 19 Michelin-starred restaurants if you have the budget but it is the spectacular buffets that are the stand out, offering the widest variety of food stations offering the highest quality I’ve encountered anywhere. The Time Out Market is located next to the Dubai Mall – the world’s largest shopping centre – and offers a food hall perfect for a pit stop overlooking the famous Dubai Fountains.

Other high-tech attractions well worth exploring at Dubai Mall are the ARTE MUSEUM DUBAI and the just-opened House Of Hype Dubai, a high-tech, self-styled ‘trippy’ world of neon city streets, light-filled gardens and robotic dance studios ideal for the Insta generation.

Lunch at the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Centre for Cultural Understanding (SMCCU) is in marked contrast to the hyper-digital wizardry on show elsewhere. Here guests are offered an opportunity to ask questions and learn about local Emirati history, the place of women in society and the wider culture while sitting in a traditional meeting space. So often perplexing to Westerners, this traditional, conservative and family-oriented society has much more in common with our own than we may realise and, arguably, there has never been a better time to deepen our understanding of the Islamic faith and the societies it has helped to form. There is a lot for visitors to learn including why the city is one of the safest in the world.

There are many contradictions, of course. Almost entirely dependent on a workforce from overseas – expat residents make up 92 per cent of the population with only around 310,000 Emiratis in a city of less than 4 million - my driver while I was there had lived and worked in Dubai for 20 years but been unable to afford to bring his family with him. He has, however, been able to improve their lives despite being separated from them.