No Holding Hands on Vacation
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do” goes the old saying. See, cultural tourism goes back a long way, folks!
But what if local culture doesn’t lend itself well to vacation behavior? For example, according to the Associated Press ,the city of Dubai in the small country of the United Arab Emirates has just announced new behavior guidelines (possibly to become law) that seek to curb public embracing, kissing, holding hands, dancing, and playing loud music. Restrictions will also be developed around clothing such as mini-skirts and shorts, and the use of alcohol. Those caught disobeying the new rules will be required to pay fines.
We understand and respect the fact that Dubai wants to maintain its own cultural norms. However, the city’s hypocrisy is out there for all to see. Dubai has been promoting itself as a tourist destination (to all, including kissy-kissy Westerners) by constructing huge shopping malls and major beach resorts, including clubs and bars. “Build it and they will come,” was the motto. And it worked. But it looks like it may have worked too well for many local people who now believe that the 20% foreign population and visitors are ruining local customs and values. This is one of the major problems that mega-resorts lead to. While not the extreme culture clash we see in this example, other countries also feel their culture floating away when the resorts move in.
As for us, we haven’t had much interest in going to Dubai anyway. The malls and resorts just aren’t for us. We believe it may be too little, too late in respect to Dubai’s recent efforts at maintaining its culture in the party tourism environment it has itself attempted to create.
That Dubai is troubled by the influx of new (read: Western) values, customs and behavior brought by their Vegas/Disneyworld resorts just takes the cake. What did they expect? The type of people who vacation at a mall, a highly-developed beach or a fake ski slope (RE: Dubai’s indoor alpine mountain) are not there for the scenery, or the local culture. I guess they could make it “Arabs only,” and insist on a Branson, MO-style family friendly atmosphere, but then that could really cut into their profits.
Those resorts are such a contradiction in terms. Dubai’s leaders wanted to create a new economy that is independent of oil, yet they’ve created the gas-guzzling SUV of industries. How much fuel does it take to maintain snow in the desert?
“20% foreign population and visitors” Dubai is 30 percent Arab max and 70 foreign min; mixed between Asian, European, American and Indo-European. Check your data!
It is nearly impossible to travel in Italy without encountering something historic - Italy has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites on the planet, and there are plenty of things that UNESCO doesn’t get at numbering that are likely more ancient than anything you’ve encountered before. Italy is a country with history.