Dubai parties ignore COVID restrictions as coronavirus cases surge

Boat parties, bars and bottles of champagne poolside – amid the pandemic, there’s one place that’s pumping like it’s 2019.

The jet-set are escaping lockdowns and restrictions and partying in Dubai like it’s 2019.

Since becoming one of the first places in the world to reopen to tourism, Dubai has boomed with visitors from around the world looking to party like it’s 2019.

Peak tourism is in full swing, with influencers descending on the United Arab Emirates to enjoy a little taste of freedom while their home countries remain in lockdown.

While mask-wearing and social distancing are required across Dubai, life in the tourism-reliant city looks much like normal, with its restaurants, hotels and mega-malls open for business.

But the peak in visitors has come at a cost, with coronavirus infections surging to unprecedented heights.

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People gather near Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, at New Year’s Eve. Picture: EPA/Ali Haider

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In the past month alone, daily cases of the virus have nearly tripled, with Britain closing its travel corridor with Dubai last week in response. But with the city’s economy on the line (Dubai is heavily relying on tourist dollars as other industries are crippled from the pandemic) experts fear a new economic crisis looms.

“Dubai’s economy is a house of cards,” Matthew Page said, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the Associated Press.

“Its competitive advantage is being a place where rules don’t apply.”

This week, several Love Island reality stars suffered the loss of thousands of followers after flaunting their ‘work holidays’ in Dubai.

Social media stars have packed in to Dubai given their relatively normal lifestyle amid the pandemic.

UK influencer Laura Anderson in Dubai on a holiday.

Stars from the UK reality TV show lost their fans in droves after flaunting their holidays to Dubai – despite the current COVID-19 crisis in Britain.

Three stars – Laura Anderson, 31, Anton Danyluk, 25, and Kaz Crossley, 27 – have lost 33,000 followers on Instagram between them.

Following Dubai’s resumption of tourism intake, hotel occupancy rates have surged to 71 per cent in December, according to data provider STR and as reported by AP.

For the first week of 2021, the London-Dubai air route ranked busiest in the world – a sign that people had had enough of the pandemic and were willing to travel abroad despite the health risks.

But the UK’s decision to close the corridor with Dubai, and implement a 10-day quarantine for anyone returning from the city threatens to impact the slowly recovery tourism sector.

“Brits make up such an important proportion of tourists and investors in Dubai,” David Tarsh, spokesman for ForwardKeys, a travel data-analysis company, told AP.

“Cutting that pipeline … is a complete disaster for the city.”

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Dubai is hoping to attract tourists back to the city amid the pandemic. Picture: Alex G. Perez/AGPfoto/Sipa USA/AAP

Airline Emirates, which restored its network to about three-quarters of pre-pandemic levels despite pulling out of all services between Dubai and Australia’s eastern seaboard, is again operating A380 superjumbos – the world’s largest commercial airliner – bringing in visitors from Britain and Russia.

Tourism has long been eyed off as an economic linchpin of Dubai, which welcomed more than 16 million visitors in 2019.

According to news outlet CNA, before the pandemic, the aim was to reach 20 million tourist visitors by 2020.

The government was counting on the six-month Dubai Expo 2020 global trade fair to attract millions of visitors and boost the economy. The event, however, has now been postponed to October this year.

Life in Dubai is looking very … 2019. Picture: EPA/Ali Haider

Now, experts say the city is throwing all it can at tourism – perhaps at the cost of significant coronavirus outbreaks.

“Dubai seems to be positioning itself as the destination of choice for those wanting to escape lockdown conditions and have a winter break, especially given ski resorts in Europe are largely closed,” Scott Livermore, chief economist at Oxford Economics Middle East, told CNA.

“This is a growth strategy in its own right, but the more successful Dubai can be in achieving this aim, the more benefits will spill over for when Expo opens.”