An Empty Dubai Terminal 1 Airport
April 27, 2010 – My friend and I left Al-Manzil Hotel early that day to catch a flight going to Bangkok via Qatar Airways, the lay over was more than an hour in Doha, Qatar. We were running late and upon arrival at the Terminal 1 airport I’ve noticed that there aren’t a lot of people rushing to their flights, wow that was a first. Many times I have been flying in and out of Dubai, usually it’s flocked by people. This time it was very convenient checking in, it was a breeze. After we checked in, went to the Immigration area and there were no long lines of passengers trying to get out of Dubai. When it was my time to meet the immigration officer, I asked him why there aren’t a lot of people this time. He just said “sssh be quiet”. Hmmm, that was odd for an I.O. to say that.
Even the Duty Free was almost empty, what does this means? Many I guess, Dubai is definitely affected with the recession going on in United States, and obviously a lot of people left Dubai for that reason. What will happen to the constructions of the new Skyscrapers like the Dubai Towers that I talked about recently?
I’ll be in Dubai again this August and I’ll let you know if there are changes. Good or bad?
Here are some photos inside Dubai Terminal 1 Airport.
The last time I was trying a necklace for my Mom here in this Jewellry store, I had to wait for a sales personnel to attend me. But this time you can see in the photo that some sales personnel don’t have any customers to attend to.
A souvenir shop where you can buy Disdasha (an Emirate local attire), shirts with Dubai printed on it, a mouse pad that looks like an Alladin carpet.
Good observation. And it will get worse. Dubai is overbuilt. Kind of like you built a 20-room apartment and now you only have 4 renters. You go to the swimming pool and nobody’s there. Are you gonna shut down the pool to save money? Your renters might leave. Well, whether your renters leave or not, you are still running on red. Month by month. You borrowed money from your brother but you continue losing money. Your uncle gave a gift on your birthday and you spent it on advertising. But it did not work. You continue to lose money. You tried to sell the apartment but nobody wants to buy. Who would want to buy? Oh there is one, but he wants it half the price; a lot lower than your loan. This is the situation of Dubai. It’s just a matter of time. Louie’s observation? Well, sharp dudes see more than the average dude. The crowd at Dubai airport a few years back was mostly expat workers. Maybe. But wait for Louie’s blog in August.
Thank you Kuya (Big Brother) Nestor for dropping by. I guess as a travel blogger I became more observant, I forgot to mention too that few years back the demand for taxis was too much in Dubai, there were a lot of people and less taxis. The ratio was 5 person to 1 taxi. I used to wait at least an hour to get a taxi, isn’t that ridiculous especially when you are waiting under the freaking heat of the sun and the humidity? Now, the ratio is 5 taxi to one person.
I am also wondering if the Dubai Metro that was inaugurated in September 2009 was a big part of more taxis are available now.