It has spectacular beaches but is not Australia; it is one of the world’s most secure destinations but is not Singapore; it has opulent city hotels and superb beachside resorts but is neither Jakarta nor Bali. It has world class shopping but is not Hong Kong.

WELCOME TO THE DESERT’S MOST EXCITING CITY Welcome to Dubai, city of merchants, cultural crossroads, second largest of the seven United Arab Emirates. A country where the dust of the desert is clearing to reveal the potential for one of the most significant international cities of the 21st century.

Wedged between Europe and Asia, buttressed by Africa, Dubai’s encouraging tax regimes, state-of-the-art telecommunications and sympathetic business environment have produced a country that is building energetically on the advantages which location, centuries-old trading savvy and oil wealth have given it.

Dubai is not just a city of excitement. It’s also a city of surprises. Try the ice skating rink in the Galleria shopping mall at the Hyatt Regency, where young men wearing traditional dish dash dress pirouette around the ice while their friends consume French pastries and coffee at Frosty’s cafe.