Qaiser Hamid Metawea

Al-Madina

 

WITH the start of the school mid-year vacation a large number of Saudi families are heading toward Dubai, which has become the most favored tourist spot for Saudis and other GCC citizens. Dubai has become a tourist haven because of its organization and numerous entertainment places.



The Saudis have favored Dubai over domestic tourism for a variety of reasons. Among others, these include a lack of suitable tourist attractions in the Kingdom, the high charges of hotels and furnished apartments and sub-standard services.



The Saudi tourist may pay a little more in Dubai than what he may have to pay inside the Kingdom but he will definitely get better services and have more fun there. The tourist will never sacrifice his money or comfort for nothing.



Dubai is also a first class economic city. It has attracted huge foreign capital. The government procedures are simple, easy and fast for investors to start their businesses.



All government departments in Dubai coordinate their efforts in unison for the foreign investors to make their business successful.



For these reasons, Dubai has become the headquarters for a number of foreign companies in the Middle East.



It is worth mentioning here that after the terrible effects of the world economic and financial crisis of 2008 on Dubai, a number of foreign investors left the emirate and headed toward Saudi Arabia. A number of investors actually arrived in the Kingdom.



However, due to the decisions of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), especially during the past two years, a number of foreign investors have run away. SAGIA issued a number of conflicting decisions to sort out the foreign companies investing in the Kingdom. As a result, a number of them flew away.



It was obvious that SAGIA wanted only to maintain the big companies, not the small or medium-size firms.



In so doing it seems that the authority has forgotten that the big companies will not trust it any more. They feel that SAGIA may suddenly wake up to surprise them with new harmful procedures so they decided to take a shortcut and quit the country altogether.



The big companies that had come to the Kingdom following the world economic crisis have gone back to Dubai again. Therefore, we have lost a big chance of becoming the main attraction for foreign capital in the Middle East.



It is not only the foreign investors who have headed toward Dubai but also the big Saudi investors. We know that the big Saudi businessmen have always favored Dubai but the new thing is that even the young Saudi businessmen are now also heading toward Dubai because of the Kingdom’s complicated government procedures.



As soon as a young Saudi businessman completes his paperwork with a certain government department in the Kingdom, he will be stuck at another department because of a lack of coordination. The young Saudi investor will immediately think of going to Dubai because the procedures there are easy and straightforward.



It is not only the young Saudi businessmen or investors who are going to Dubai but also our educated young men and women who will have better employment opportunities with fat salaries. The young men and women who studied abroad under the scholarship program of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques are also going to Dubai for better jobs and better pay. We have spent a lot of money on educating these young men and women in the best universities in the world but now Dubai is having them on a silver platter.



The legitimate question here is, why does Dubai win while we lose? The answer is simple. Dubai is organized. It has crystal clear plans and objectives. All the government sectors there have geared up to achieve these objectives while in the Kingdom every government sector has its own plans and objectives whether they contradict each other or not. These sectors are not at all willing to coordinate with each other for the welfare of the homeland.