Exporting Dubai

Travel Blog • Terry Ward • 11.02.06 | 8:46 AM ET

For me, visiting Morocco has always meant hanging with my host family in Fes (I studied Arabic there in 2003), seaside sardine feasts for a few bucks in Essaouira and strolls through the medinas to soak up the chaos and color. But when you’re Emaar—Dubai’s largest property group, backed by the ruling Maktoum family—Morocco is just another stage for a decadent Arabian playground, replete with a golf-course-cum-ski-resort, luxury shopping streets and fake beaches. Never mind that the construction site, Oukaimeden—a small provincial ski resort in the High Atlas mountains, not far from Marrakech—is nowhere near the United Arab Emirates.

A recent Newseek International article reports:

This summer Dubai made a $19 billion commitment to develop Moroccan resort towns like Oukaïmeden, an improbable oasis for golf and skiing in the Atlas mountains. The emirate is playing the lead role in constructing the $27 billion King Abdullah City on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia—the largest private development in the kingdom’s history.

And that’s just the start. Dubai is also developing a glittering 35-story skyscraper in Damascus, Syria, a chichi resort in Djibouti in East Africa and two enormous island resorts off Karachi, Pakistan. It begs the question, is Afghanistan next?

The bling factor is guaranteed, but don’t expect originality:

The vision everywhere is exactly the same: glamorous, palm-covered, Dubai-style gated communities. Each of them will boast every luxury amenity imaginable—from Rodeo Drive-style designer shopping streets to five-star spas and first-class business facilities—in order to attract foreign tourists, multinational corporate offices and bundles of direct investment. Like Dubai’s Media or Internet City free zones, many of the new developments are adopting internal rules to entice foreigners—like legalized drinking and gambling in otherwise Islamic countries.

And while the locals in Oukaimeden might be in for a culture shock when they get a glimpse of the free-wheeling tycoon lifestyle, the job opportunities created by the resort will be most welcomed in a country where unemployment is exceedingly high.

It sounds like Dubai will be addressing the riffraff factor that is standard in developing countries, too. The article continues:

In order to sustain the high-end nature of the properties, Dubai companies are also investing in cleaning up nearby areas, building roads, and creating jobs.

It reminds me, somehow, of Disney—Dubai’s-take-on-Epcot-meets-Morocco. Which isn’t to say that if I won the lottery I wouldn’t splash out on a night of decadence before getting back to the real world.