Why the Scots who flock to Dubai should realise their dream is actually a nightmare

After years of growth, as a kind of Center Parcs for the worst people in the world, Dubai is now starting to slide. Mounting living costs and increased competition for jobs is taking the shine off the fantasy that pulled people to the place and more and more are starting to leave.

“Habibi, don’t come to Dubai” is now a trend on TikTok, the social media platform of choice for anyone dense enough to live there. So what’s gone wrong?

Recreational oasis?

Dubai has always been an illusion in the sand. Fifty years ago, it was just a small port but the discovery of oil led to rapid transformation and the creation of an recreational oasis. Add in zero income tax, year-round-sunshine and lax application of the stricter tenets of Islam and you have a potent mix for fun seekers.

But the Dubai dream always came at a price. All of the fun was only possible as long as you looked away from the near-slave labour required to make the whole place work. Dubai is basically your local shopping centre with fewer human rights.

“This is a dictatorship. The royal family think they own the country, and the people are their servants. There is no freedom here,” one leading local lawyer told Amnesty International. Naturally none of that matters to the kind of people who love Dubai and think culture is something that grows on old milk.

Holding pen for dimwits

The rot started during the pandemic when Instagram influencers flocked to Dubai to enjoy the sunshine and no lockdown. That led to them catching Covid and attracting the ire of the rest of us queuing outside Tesco in the rain. Suddenly Dubai looked less shiny and more like a holding pen for dimwits.

Then came conflict in Ukraine. Facing international travel restrictions, more than 700,000 Russians moved to Dubai for caviar, blinis, vodka and no judgment.

A couple of years on and the property bubble has finally burst. House prices are down 15 per cent for the first time ever, locals complain about overcrowded beaches and salaries are falling. Without the economic protections offered here in the UK, Dubai can be a brutal place.

No kissing

None of this will end the dream. Every week young Scots will get on the direct flights from Glasgow and Edinburgh hoping, like Dick Whittington, to start new lives in streets paved with gold. They will join the quarter of a million Brits who have made Dubai home and still hope for better life.

But if it all seemed too good to be true, that’s because it is. The miracle in the sand is just a dream built on poor labourers and workers, toiling in the shadows and unbearable heat so that we don’t have to.

As long as you can stomach that, human rights abuses, a petrol price fanning the flames of climate change and a culture where holding hands in public is permitted but kissing is not then, Habibi, welcome to Dubai.