Seven-star hotels and world-class shopping regale international tourists in Dubai—but at what cost? The Budget Babe's International Shopping Advisor Fifi LaMode digs deep. —TBB
by Fifi LaMode
Last week, I wrote about
how green Austria is and encouraged The Budget Babe's readers to shop there. Occasionally The Budget Babe also brings up the fact that we are all on this planet together and we have to shop responsibly, avoiding sweatshop-made goods, endangered species, retail (oops, snuck that one in!). So this week we're tackling Dubai.
The United Arab Emirates have oil. Fact: The oil will run out. Also Fact: In order to prepare for their inevitable petroleum-less existence, these tiny bits of land are heavily investing in other profitable industries, chief among which is tourism. Dubai leads by leaps and bounds. In the middle of the ocean they've put up a resort that's a series of islands called "The World" which from the sky looks like, well, the world. They have a real-estate venture in the water that looks like a palm tree, with each frond having some luxury property or other. Sort of a gated community gone berserk.
Their Burj-al-Arab 20-star hotel is huge and opulent, as is everything in this desert oasis of sorts. They're building the tallest building in the world. One of their mega-malls has a ski run, just to give you an example. Dubai's strong point is trade. Everything in Dubai is bigger, new er, more excessive, more gaudy than anywhere else. Great place to buy gold and lots of other goodies from the East. Now it's also a place where you can get Chanel, Hermes, and all their big-ticket buddies.
Try-on any pair of Nine West Jeans and receive a complimentary corduroy cap at select Macy's locations.