|
 “There’s no such thing as bad publicity, except your own obituary,” Irish author Brendan Behan is reputed to have said – but this week Dubai may have managed to defy that exception.
Figures released by accommodation booking website Hotels.com show enquiries from UK users about Dubai hotels rose 570% after the emirate hit the world’s press with news of its intention to delay repayment of a little bit of debt.
Improbable as it may seem, following the almost literal acres of negative press about Dubai, including many articles calling time on the “dream of Dubai” (we’d call that an obituary), the natural reaction of the Great British Public was to log on and check how much a Winter Break would be.
These British are crazy.
“Dubai is great value at the moment. There are some fantastic promotions from hoteliers in the city as they try to attract customers, meaning there has never been a better time for travellers to stay in some of the world's top properties for a great price. Now is the time to take the holiday you've always dreamed of,” said Alison Couper, director of communications at Hotels.com, in a press release.
As we’ve stated before, the utterly hysterical media reaction to Dubai’s debt issues, and the picture it painted of life in the emirate, bore little relation to reality on the ground.
With any luck, the whole episode might have managed to do at least one part of the city’s economy some good.
|
