Friday, December 30, 2011

Travels in foreign lands-XXXVII (Journeys to Oman-I)

During my frequent longer duration stays in Dubai I had two opportunities of visiting the Sultanate of Oman. My cousins there were keen for me to visit the country for its history and landscape. First time, I went on the invitation of Irfan Reshi who had a handicraft store in Muscat, the capital of Oman. I wanted to drive from Dubai to Muscat as there is a very good road connection. However, non-Gulf country nationals were not allowed by road and as such I had to fly by Oman Air to Muscat. Entry to Muscat was smooth. The immigration and customs was rather quick and Irfan was waiting for me outside. Muscat airport has a very luxurious waiting lounge. The drive from the airport to city was the loveliest I have had in any Arab country. The entire route has flower beds and trees on both sides. In the distance are desert and date trees but all along the road and in a number of places en route one can see flowers, shrubs, and trees of all varieties. Road crossings are like mini-gardens. The flowers in the desert are a sight worth seeing! While driving to the city there are also some official buildings housing various ministries. All these buildings are in traditional style resembling palaces and heritage houses. Omanis seem to be fond of their heritage and traditions.
 
We drove straight from the airport to Irfan’s home. The family was happy to see me. After lunch he took me to his shop which was in a supermarket nearby. Omanis dressed like other Arabs in long robes but the head gear is different. It is a scarf which is worn over head like a turban. I was told that the quality of the turban varies with the status of the people. The highest quality is of pashmina from Kashmir. It was news to me that Oman imports crores worth pashmina from Kashmir for these turbans. Irfan has also been supplying this to ruling family. A striking feature in the dress I noticed was a strange black nose cover worn by women especially the elderly and from villages. It is a pointed thing made of black cardboard or cloth covering the cheeks and the nose of the lady.
 
Oman’s ruler Sultan Qaboos is quite popular. Incidentally, he is a bachelor! One of Irfan’s friends was associated with the local English daily newspaper, Oman Daily Observer. He was keen that I should give an interview on Kashmir and Ladakh to the newspaper. T S Almeida of the paper interviewed me and the story came out prominently with photographs of Ladakh. In the meantime, we visited the coastline where the local authorities have created some beautiful gardens and parks. Driving through the city towards sea coast, I saw lot of traditional local houses. Almost all the houses are white. This is probably to prevent heating up due to harsh Sun especially during summer. There are a large number of mosques in traditional style. In the newer part of the city there are some high rise buildings and five star hotels. Modernisation creeps into every place but the Omanis have tried their best to preserve their heritage also.
 
Irfan also wanted me to meet the head of Tourism in Oman. The meeting with the Tourism Chief was quite interesting. The news story in Oman Daily Observer had impressed him. He was amused when I told him that I was a bachelor. He told me that their Sultan was also a bachelor. He had heard a lot about Kashmir and Ladakh but had not visited the area. He knew we were quite advanced in our tourism organisation and promotion. He offered me to be an advisor for the Tourism Ministry of Oman. I was offered a very good salary, a house, and also a “wife”! When I told the Chief that I still had five years of active service left back home as the Director General Tourism, he told me that they can wait!
I also had the opportunity of meeting the Indian Ambassador to Oman. In fact, one of the diplomats was related to a senior Indian Administrative Service officer from Jammu. He invited me to his house and I introduced him to Irfan. I informed the Ambassador about the possibility of promoting Kashmir and Ladakh to a large expatriate population especially the British in Oman. It was proposed to hold some presentations to local travel agents through the local office of Air India. In fact, some of the travel agents did visit Ladakh.
 
During my first trip I had limited choice for sight seeing and concentrated on meeting people. However, Irfan did arrange a short trip to Nizwa, the traditional town of Oman. It is truly a very traditional town with old style houses and markets. Quite a change from the highly westernised Dubai and other places in UAE. There is an old fort which has been well maintained. The drive to Nizwa was also quite interesting along the desert and mountains. There are plenty of mountains in Oman. We also visited the vegetable and fruit market. I also had a short trip to view Jabal Akhdar, the highest mountain in Oman. The top of the mountain gets snow in winter. It is not possible to visit the top as there are some military installations there.
While in Muscat, everyone I met told me that I should visit Salalah. It is supposed to be the best tourist attraction in Oman. However, to visit Salalah would require at least three days or so. I was pressed for time and had to return to Dubai and then back home to Kashmir. Nevertheless, I did manage to visit Salalah during my next visit which I will describe in the next episode. Oman impressed me a lot and I would love to visit the place anytime for a holiday!
(To be continued…)

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Travels in foreign lands-XXXVI (Other emirates of UAE-II)

The other two emirates which I visited are Ras-al-Khaimah and Fujaira. The first one I visited just for sight seeing but in Fujaira I have a cousin who is the Chief Engineer of the Municipality. I visited him a few times. Ras-al-Khaimahi is supposed to be a vegetable bowl in UAE. There are numerous farms growing vegetables and fruit. I had also heard about some hot springs. So one day I took a trip to this area. First we went straight to the hot springs. These are very well built by the local authorities. There is a reception and ticket counter. Inside there are separate areas for men and women. There are change rooms. One can take a dip in the pools which have been nicely made with good approaches. I was amazed by the cleanliness which is unlike our hot springs in Rajouri and other areas. I had visited a number of times the hot springs near Kalakot but these were in filthy condition. With garbage and muck all around. I wish our people could see how the authorities in Ras-al-Khaimah have kept the hot springs very spick and span! We could easily do the same and make these a big tourist attraction!
 
After this we visited some vegetable farms. These are spread over long stretches. Mostly Pakistani labour is working here and there are direct flights from Pakistan to this place. With the amount of oil money these Arabs have, they could turn all these deserts into a paradise. However, they are mostly given to luxuries and prefer fancy items like racing cars, power boats, golf, and so on. They import American and European goodies worth billions of dollars. Plane loads of famous American ice cream Baskin n’ Robbins is imported every week. Fruit, vegetables, soft drinks and so many other items are imported from all over the world. May be someday good sense will dawn on the new generation and they will go for productive investments instead of fancy goodies?
 
Fujaira is quite dry and rocky. It reminded me about Ladakh. On one side is the sea and on the other high rocky mountains of brown colour. My mother was keen to visit the family of my cousin. So one day we went by car to Fujaira. The road is good and it took us about two hours. The drive is monotonous all across the desert. We did cross a couple of towns on the way. The final portion of the drive is through narrow mountain valleys. After driving up and down the mountain valleys, the road opens up in a wide flat valley with mountains on the left side at some distance. On the way there is a fruit and vegetable market on both sides of the road. People stop here often to buy fruit and vegetables.
 
We drove straight to the home of my cousin. He lives in a multi-storey building. There are very few high rise buildings here and the town is quite small compared to Dubai and other places. On this first visit we just stayed with our relations. Had lunch and then relaxed for sometime. Suhail took me round the town and later we returned to Dubai. In the way we bought some fruit at the vegetable market. However, I made two more visits to Fujaira. One was with my sister and her family and the second with my friend S S Singh and his wife. During these visits we took a tour of the area. Suhail took us to a lake in the mountains and we drove along the sea shore for quite a distance. It presents a fantastic view. On one side are brown metallic Rocky Mountains and on the other is deep blue sea. It is a joyful ride. The lake is high up in the mountains. It has been acting as a water reservoir. When we visited the lake, it was almost empty but Suhail told us that in rains it gets filled up. On our return we stopped for a cup of coffee in the five star hotel on the beach. It is a very luxurious hotel and commands a fantastic view of the sea.
 
During my stay in Dubai, there was once very heavy rain. We came to know that there had been snow on the top of Ras-al-Khaimah Mountains. It was first time that people had seen snow! In fact, the Sheikh of Ras-al-Khaimah went up the mountain to see the snow. There were pictures of snowfall in Ras-al-Khaimah in all the local dailies of Dubai. Nature has strange ways. In Africa, the highest mountain is Mount Kilimanjaro which is situated on the equator but its top too is covered with snow!
During my frequent visits to Dubai and other emirates of UAE there were many other events and functions which I had the opportunity of attending. I nostalgically recall my stays in Dubai. It is a wonderful place to spend a couple of months in winter. The weather is excellent. There are sunny days and the temperature is ideal. When the entire Europe and many parts of Asia are reeling under cold and fog, Dubai is shinning. The best thing for them to sell is the weather in winter. Summer is being in an oven. They say temperatures exceed 50 degrees Celsius! One can fry an egg on an automobile bonnet! Let us hope we are able to get Srinagar-Dubai flight restarted. Dubai would be an ideal place to visit in winter especially for shopping and enjoying sunny weather. In return, we could attract large population of the rich in Dubai including Arabs and Asians to visit Kashmir in summer. In next couple of episodes I will try to describe my journeys to the Sultanate of Oman.
(Concluded)

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Travels in foreign lands-XXXVI (Other emirates of UAE-II)

The other two emirates which I visited are Ras-al-Khaimah and Fujaira. The first one I visited just for sight seeing but in Fujaira I have a cousin who is the Chief Engineer of the Municipality. I visited him a few times. Ras-al-Khaimahi is supposed to be a vegetable bowl in UAE. There are numerous farms growing vegetables and fruit. I had also heard about some hot springs. So one day I took a trip to this area. First we went straight to the hot springs. These are very well built by the local authorities. There is a reception and ticket counter. Inside there are separate areas for men and women. There are change rooms. One can take a dip in the pools which have been nicely made with good approaches. I was amazed by the cleanliness which is unlike our hot springs in Rajouri and other areas. I had visited a number of times the hot springs near Kalakot but these were in filthy condition. With garbage and muck all around. I wish our people could see how the authorities in Ras-al-Khaimah have kept the hot springs very spick and span! We could easily do the same and make these a big tourist attraction!
 
After this we visited some vegetable farms. These are spread over long stretches. Mostly Pakistani labour is working here and there are direct flights from Pakistan to this place. With the amount of oil money these Arabs have, they could turn all these deserts into a paradise. However, they are mostly given to luxuries and prefer fancy items like racing cars, power boats, golf, and so on. They import American and European goodies worth billions of dollars. Plane loads of famous American ice cream Baskin n’ Robbins is imported every week. Fruit, vegetables, soft drinks and so many other items are imported from all over the world. May be someday good sense will dawn on the new generation and they will go for productive investments instead of fancy goodies?
 
Fujaira is quite dry and rocky. It reminded me about Ladakh. On one side is the sea and on the other high rocky mountains of brown colour. My mother was keen to visit the family of my cousin. So one day we went by car to Fujaira. The road is good and it took us about two hours. The drive is monotonous all across the desert. We did cross a couple of towns on the way. The final portion of the drive is through narrow mountain valleys. After driving up and down the mountain valleys, the road opens up in a wide flat valley with mountains on the left side at some distance. On the way there is a fruit and vegetable market on both sides of the road. People stop here often to buy fruit and vegetables.
 
We drove straight to the home of my cousin. He lives in a multi-storey building. There are very few high rise buildings here and the town is quite small compared to Dubai and other places. On this first visit we just stayed with our relations. Had lunch and then relaxed for sometime. Suhail took me round the town and later we returned to Dubai. In the way we bought some fruit at the vegetable market. However, I made two more visits to Fujaira. One was with my sister and her family and the second with my friend S S Singh and his wife. During these visits we took a tour of the area. Suhail took us to a lake in the mountains and we drove along the sea shore for quite a distance. It presents a fantastic view. On one side are brown metallic Rocky Mountains and on the other is deep blue sea. It is a joyful ride. The lake is high up in the mountains. It has been acting as a water reservoir. When we visited the lake, it was almost empty but Suhail told us that in rains it gets filled up. On our return we stopped for a cup of coffee in the five star hotel on the beach. It is a very luxurious hotel and commands a fantastic view of the sea.
 
During my stay in Dubai, there was once very heavy rain. We came to know that there had been snow on the top of Ras-al-Khaimah Mountains. It was first time that people had seen snow! In fact, the Sheikh of Ras-al-Khaimah went up the mountain to see the snow. There were pictures of snowfall in Ras-al-Khaimah in all the local dailies of Dubai. Nature has strange ways. In Africa, the highest mountain is Mount Kilimanjaro which is situated on the equator but its top too is covered with snow!
During my frequent visits to Dubai and other emirates of UAE there were many other events and functions which I had the opportunity of attending. I nostalgically recall my stays in Dubai. It is a wonderful place to spend a couple of months in winter. The weather is excellent. There are sunny days and the temperature is ideal. When the entire Europe and many parts of Asia are reeling under cold and fog, Dubai is shinning. The best thing for them to sell is the weather in winter. Summer is being in an oven. They say temperatures exceed 50 degrees Celsius! One can fry an egg on an automobile bonnet! Let us hope we are able to get Srinagar-Dubai flight restarted. Dubai would be an ideal place to visit in winter especially for shopping and enjoying sunny weather. In return, we could attract large population of the rich in Dubai including Arabs and Asians to visit Kashmir in summer. In next couple of episodes I will try to describe my journeys to the Sultanate of Oman.
(Concluded)

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Travels in foreign lands-XXXV (Other emirates of UAE-I)

Dubai is the most well known place in the Persian Gulf area. However, Dubai is one of the emirates of the UAE (United Arab Emirates). The other emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujaira, Ras-al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm-al-Quwain. Population wise only three emirates are sizeable. These are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah which have populations exceeding a million or about a million. The other emirates have smaller populations. Area wise Abu Dhabi with an area of 67,340 square kilometres is the largest. In fact, it represents 86% of the total area of UAE. Dubai has a population of 1.3 million but an area of only 5% of the total area of UAE and is thus quite congested. However, Ajman which has only 0.3% area is the most congested. Economically, Abu Dhabi is on a sound footing because of oil. In fact, during the recent debt crash, Abu Dhabi bailed out Dubai.
 
Sharjah and Dubai are almost joined. There is no sharp boundary between two emirates. However, there are many differences. Dubai is quite liberal. Almost it is an extension of western culture in certain respects. Sharjah is more conservative. Everything from rent of properties to food stuff is cheaper in Sharjah. Quite a large number of people who work in Dubai prefer to stay in Sharjah. This is especially true of people from the sub-continent. Sharjah has a very nice corniche which is a walkway round a water body. It has the famous Noor Mosque, Fish Market, Gold Souq, and many other attractions.
 
First time I visited Sharjah it took us about twenty minutes or so. However, now it may even take two hours because of heavy traffic. Subsequently, whenever I had to go to Sharjah, I would go in the middle of the day during off peak hours. Traffic has become a problem even in Dubai itself. Dubai has very posh areas mostly inhabited and frequented by the western expatriates. There are also some areas dominated by the people from the sub-continent. One of these is Deira on way to Sharjah. Deira like Bur Dubai, has an air of being somewhere in India. Again going to Deira from main Dubai takes some times more than an hour. There is a big jam on the bridge. During my last stay in Dubai, they were planning to have some more bridges and tunnels. I hope these have been completed? However, to ease the traffic they now have a Metro which is supposed to be very popular with commuters.
 
The other Emirate which I visited a couple of times is Abu Dhabi. It was an interesting encounter which resulted in my visiting Abu Dhabi first time. I was once going through an exhibition of paintings in one of the super markets known as Burjman when suddenly patted me on the back and called my name. I was surprised to see Dr. Nagpal, the former Director of the SKIMS (Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences), Srinagar. The paintings had been done by his wife. They were very happy to see me. Dr.Nagpal told me that he was working as Advisor on Hospital Affairs to UAE Government and was based in Abu Dhabi. He jokingly said that we had turned him out of SKIMS but now he had over 100 hospitals under him and a couple of these were in UK? He invited me to Abu Dhabi at my convenience. The opportunity to visit Dr.Nagpal came soon. My friend Dr.Abdul Ahad, an ENT Specialist, came from Kashmir for an interview. I told him about Dr.Nagpal and we called him. He was very glad to know that Dr.Ahad was in Dubai and invited both of us for lunch next day. We hired a car and started around 9 for Abu Dhabi.
 
An interesting thing about Dubai is the official radio taxi service. The government operates this taxi service. The vehicles are new and in very good shape. The drivers are very polite and helpful. There are newspapers in the taxi. Rates are also quite reasonable. One can call the taxi round the clock by phone. I wish Kashmir could also have a similar service not only for tourists but for local population also!
We covered the distance of 124 kilometres from Dubai to Abu Dhabi in about an hour and a quarter. There is a motorway between the two cities. Most of places in Middle East are connected by excellent motorways. In India there are hardly any motorways. There is one between Mumbai and Pune. Pakistan has few cities connected by motorways. Good road connections should have been the first priority of planners!
 
On arrival in Abu Dhabi we went straight to Dr. Nagpal’s office. He was waiting for us. After a cup of coffee, he took us home. He lived in a flat on sixth floor of a high rise building on Abu Dhabi waterfront. The flat was very elegant and luxurious and there was a fantastic view of the waterfront. We met his wife and all of us went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. The food was excellent and we enjoyed our lunch. After saying good bye to Dr.Nagpal and his wife we went for some sight seeing. The waterfront is really impressive. Abu Dhabi appeared to me more orderly and clean. After all the emirate is quite rich and they have enough oil. However, there is one more catch. They have French advisors instead of the British ones in Dubai! People seemed more secure and confident while working in Abu Dhabi.
I visited sometime later Alain, also known as the Garden City of Abu Dhabi. It is really green. I had been invited there by some travel agents who wanted information on Ladakh. There were some American and British Schools which were interested in visiting Ladakh. I had lunch with travel agents and then took a round of this green city in the desert. One wonders what can be done with honest intentions and will. One can turn the desert into a garden! Incidentally, there are a lot of Pathans from Pakistan who live in Alain. During Babri Mosque demolition, they held massive protests and a large number of them were deported! The other two emirates I visited are Fujaira and Ras-al-Khaimah which I will describe in next episode.
(To be concluded)

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Travels in foreign lands-XXXIV (Dubai, the failed Eldorado-IV, the “Kashmir Connection”)

After my frequent trips to Dubai, I had a feeling that this place could be a very good hub of tourism and trade for Kashmir. I was very keen to get a connection established between Dubai and Kashmir. The opportunity to do so came after my retirement during the tenure of Mufti Mohammad Sayed. He was very keen to revive tourism to Kashmir from all over the world. In fact, during last few months of my service in the state tourism department, we conducted extensive tours of various metros. Mufti Sayed, the Chief Minister, himself led these promotional tours involving meetings with the travel trade and media. Immediately after the conclusion of these tours Mufti Sahib called me to his office and said that I should not think of retiring in few months. He offered to extend my services even if he had to speak to Delhi about it.
 
I very politely declined the offer stating that I had spent 30 years in government service and wanted to be on my own now! However, I offered to be available for any consultation or advice whenever he needed me. He did call me a number of times regarding tourism promotion after my retirement. It was in this regard that during the winter of 2003-04 before going to Dubai with my mother I met him and requested him to visit Dubai to give a boost to tourism promotion. He did keep his word and came to Dubai leading a delegation consisting of Tourism Minister and senior officers. On arrival from London, he called me to his hotel and then I was with him throughout the tour. He had meetings with the travel trade, business community, and then gave a press conference. He got a good response from different organisations. He was very keen to set up a Kashmir Trade and Travel Bureau in Dubai. In fact, he made an announcement in the press conference about it.
 
After his departure from Dubai, I contacted various travel and trade organisations. I had an opportunity of meeting Feroze Allana, the chairman of the IFFCO group. This a large group of companies involved in food products. He was keen to help us in starting export of some food based items from Kashmir. I was able to persuade him to send a team to Kashmir to make an on the spot assessment. I was also able to arrange a group of golfers from the Indian Golf Association, Dubai to visit and try the new Royal Spring Golf Course. The visit of the IFFCO team was quite informative. They were treated as state guests by Mufti Sahib who had a detailed meeting with them. They visited the Fisheries farm at Kokarnag, the Agriculture University at Shalimar, and the Floriculture set up in Siraji Bagh. They were impressed and offered to pick up trout, some agriculture products like celery, and apple juice concentrate. This could be quite viable if there was a direct flight between Srinagar and Dubai. IFFCO also offered to take some Kashmiri Youth in their employment. They have an international set up with numerous factories and outlets. The golfers too were impressed with the Royal Spring Golf course and the other coming up courses in Gulmarg and Pahalgam. There could be an interesting weekend golf tour to Kashmir. These possibilities needed to be followed up at the highest level. However, with the departure of Mufti Sahib from the scene the project got completely shelved! Ghulam Nabi Azad only concentrated on Srinagar Airport and he did succeed in upgrading it to so called “International” level by starting a Srinagar-Dubai flight with great fanfare in presence of Sonia Gandhi. Unfortunately, the solitary weekly flight had a very short life!
 
In spite of the hiccups, a large number of Kashmiris have been going to Dubai for trade as well as shopping. Some have even bought property there. Dubai could be utilised by Kashmiris as an excellent hub for trade and tourism. The only requirement is that the governments in Srinagar and Delhi should be genuinely interested and should honestly try to take up the project. Dubai also has many top class adventure activities and some of the top class events are held there. It is an interesting destination not only for shopping but to participate in many international events. These include Golf, Power boat racing, horse racing, camel races, ATV competitions, and so on. These events could be on a smaller scale attracted to Kashmir by approaching the organisers. To make Dubai-Kashmir connection a success, the private sector in Kashmir would have to take the initiative in approaching various organisations there and start some viable projects. The State Government needs to impress upon the Central Government the necessity and consequent advantages of an air connection between Srinagar and Dubai which could be easily extended to Jeddah to make it viable round the year. In fact, this connection could have sufficient cargo load apart from tourists and pilgrims.
 
There are no two opinions that the best market for Kashmir is the up market domestic tourist. The figures are staggering. Over 300 million! The concerned authorities for reasons best known to them seem to be concentrating in attracting western tourists. However, almost all western governments have very severe adverse advisories on travel to Kashmir. The state tourism officers have been trying their best to get these advisories removed or modified. But this is not happening because of a vicious circle. All the foreign governments say that the entire state of Jammu & Kashmir has been declared a disturbed area by the government. No insurance company is prepared to cover people visiting officially declared disturbed area. No travel agency is prepared to start group tourism to Kashmir without insurance cover for its clients. So in regard to foreign tourists, it may be better to concentrate on Middle East where no government has issued any adverse advisory for travel to Kashmir. Dubai may be the most suitable place to promote tourism from West Asia to Kashmir! It could also be a trade hub. Let us hope somebody takes the initiative and the government backs it!
(Concluded)

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Travels in foreign lands-XXXIII (Dubai, the failed Eldorado-III)

I visited Dubai for a longer duration in 1994 when I also had the opportunity of participating in the first Arabian Travel Mart. I went on a private visit after getting a month's earned leave. The first thing I did on arrival was to call on the Director of the Indian Tourist Office in Dubai. This office looks after entire West Asia and is located in a multi-storey building in Deira. Syed Naqvi was the Director of the office. However, the most active and knowledgeable person with extensive contacts was Hind Al-Saleh, a Lebanese lady who was working as the Office Manager and also as a PR Manager. She was very happy to meet me as she had heard a lot about Kashmir but had not visited it. Naqvi asked her to arrange my meetings with the local press and travel trade. I had some slides about Ladakh and I made many presentations to the local journalists as well as travel agents. Those days Ladakh was considered the only safe destination in Kashmir. However, the local people were totally ignorant about it. In fact, Dubai had a large expatriate population of Europeans for whom Ladakh could be a very attractive destination.
 
My presentations to the journalists got wide coverage in the local press and the two prestigious papers, the Gulf News, and the Khaleej Times carried the stories prominently with my photograph. Subsequently, Air India and Indian Airlines also got interested in promoting Ladakh as well as Kashmir. The Indian Airlines announced special package fares which included trip to Jammu and Srinagar from Delhi with just an addition of 100 UAE Dhirams. This was quite cheap compared to normal domestic fare between Srinagar/Jammu and Delhi. In Dubai there is also a large Indian population who are keen to visit the Shrine of Mata Vaishnovdevi. They too got this special fare benefit and a large number of pilgrims went there.
During this visit I was also able to develop very good relations with Air India and the Indian Airlines management in Dubai. They too were keen to promote Kashmir as a tourism destination. Both the Air India and the Indian Airlines provided a number of complimentary passages to journalists and travel agents from Dubai to visit Kashmir and Ladakh. In fact, during my entire Dubai promotion including my trips after retirement in 2003, these airlines provided me over a dozen free business class tickets right from Srinagar to Dubai and back. My promotions did help them to increase the sales. For any tourism promotion it is imperative for the airlines and the tourist offices to work jointly.
 
The highlight of my 1994 visit to Dubai was participation in the Arabian Travel Mart which usually takes place in the first week of May every year. The Mart is actually directed towards the local people who take holidays in the hot summer months. Usually, the Arabs do not plan like the western holiday makers their travel well in advance. Most of the people decide on the spur of the moment or at the most a couple of months before the actual travel. The maximum participation in the Mart on a large and grand scale is from Europe, Middle East and some South East Asian countries. Those days Europe was still the most preferred destination. This may have changed somewhat after 9/11 as people of Arabian origin had to face lot of security checks especially in the west after that event. The Arabian Travel Mart is probably the most important travel meet after World Travel Mart of London and the International Tourism Bourse of Berlin. The exhibition centre which has been completely renovated now is probably one of the best in the world.
 
In 1994 it was not so impressive. However, there was still large attendance and it was a very successful meet. This event has been now going on for 18 years and in May, 2012, the 19th Arabian Travel Mart is being held. It was a privilege to be part of the Mart in 1994. In fact, I was introduced to Sheikh Mohammad, the ruler of Dubai who also visited the Mart. J & K Tourism has been participating in the event for past sometime and the response seems to be picking up. Had the Srinagar-Dubai flight not ended in a fiasco, the Arabian Travel Mart would have acted as a very good source generator for Kashmir Tourism. During the Mart I had an opportunity of not only meeting the travel people from across the Arab World but from entire Europe for whom Kashmir had been a very attractive destination. The first question these people would ask me was, "Is it safe to go to Kashmir?" The same question is being asked in foreign countries even now because of adverse travel advisories issued by some foreign offices. The event apart from being an ideal hub to promote a destination, allows travel people from across the world to meet each other and exchange notes on latest developments.
 
During the course of this visit I had the occasion of meeting the Indian Ambassador to UAE. He too was keen for promoting tourism to Kashmir. I also visited the Indian Consulate in Dubai and interacted with the Consul General. They too offered their good offices for promoting tourism to Kashmir by assisting in organising some food festivals in Dubai. Subsequently these festivals were organised on a regular basis by the Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation in some five star hotels of Dubai. I continued my trips to Dubai after retirement and in fact stayed for longer periods, almost three months at a time which is the maximum duration on a UAE visit visa. These trips were sponsored by Air India and Indian Airlines even after my retirement. Unfortunately, the travel industry in Kashmir was not able to cash these promotions. Only Mufti Sayed as the Chief Minister from 2003 tried his best to connect Dubai with Kashmir both for travel and trade but his short tenure did not allow him to achieve this objective. I will relate this story in the next episode.
To be continued….
 

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Travels in foreign lands-XXXII (Dubai, the failed Eldorado-II)

My first visit to Dubai took place in early nineties. My cousin from Bahrain, Khurshid, had come to Delhi and asked me to come for a short visit to Bahrain and Dubai. My younger brother Hamid had left Kashmir in 1990 and set up a store in collaboration with Khurshid. I was keen to see Dubai as I had heard a lot about it, mostly in regard to duty free shopping! However, we first went straight to Bahrain with only an hour's stopover at Dubai airport. Thos days the airport was quite small with just one business lounge. After staying for few days in Bahrain, we returned to Dubai. I found it quite modern even in those days. The roads were good. There were a number of shopping malls. My brother's store was in one of these malls. I saw mostly Europeans visiting these malls. A large portion of the foreigners came from Britain. In fact, the majority of advisors and consultants in Dubai were from UK.
 
This being an exploratory visit, I mostly concentrated on sight seeing. However, I did meet people from the travel trade and paid a visit to the Indian Tourist Office. While entering Dubai, my two video cassettes about skiing in Kashmir and Ladakh had been taken by custom authorities at the airport. No outside video cassettes were allowed in to discourage pornography. I was told that these would be delivered to me after checking. I was keen to show these to the local travel trade for promoting Kashmir. However, for almost a week there was no trace of these cassettes. I contacted the Indian Tourist Office but they were unable to help. I enquired about Dubai Tourism and found out the name of its Chief Executive. It was one Khaled, a local Arab. I sought an appointment with him giving my background as the Director of Kashmir Tourism. I was given appointment for next day. However, on reaching his office, I was told that Khaled was not available but his deputy, a British national would see me. The deputy chief executive, an elderly British consultant was very friendly. In fact, he told me that Khaled was only a titular head and everything was done by him. He offered me a cup of coffee. I told him about my missing cassettes. He called one of his officers and asked him to accompany me to the customs house to get these. The officer took me in his own car and we retrieved the cassettes.
During my entire contact with Dubai, I found that the top positions were held by Arabs, mostly from the ruling family but actual work was done by foreigners and in case of Dubai, by the British Advisors and Consultants. These people were getting hefty salaries which they could not imagine back home. They were also getting top class residential and other facilities. In fact, in the plane I had met a British Consultant who told me that he was coming to Dubai to make a fast buck in four to five years and then go home to enjoy life. To me with all the modern facilities, the life in the desert did not seem so tough! These people were driving all sorts of petrol guzzlers, Land Cruisers, Pajeros and so on which they could not afford back home. I also found a bias among local Arab administration towards the Asian people. There were two different standards for people working in Dubai. The Europeans or for that matter all white skinned people were treated differently than the Asians.
 
The lowest were perhaps the Filipinos because they could come very cheap! There were a lot of people from Kerala popularly known as "Malbaris". There was also large number of people from Pakistan. A majority of these were doing manual jobs. Another field in which Indians were fully involved was the shopping outlets.
 
There are many supermarket chains in Dubai owned and operated by Indians. In fact, one area of Dubai called "Bur Dubai" is totally dominated by Indians. If one walks along various markets in this area, one gets the feeling of being in some market of Mumbai or Delhi! There are shops selling all sorts of Indian goods. The shoppers too are Indian. In fact, one rarely sees an Arab in these parts! Similarly, another area called "Satwa" was dominated by Pakistanis. Both Indians and Pakistanis felt completely at home in their respective areas. One could buy clothing, food, condiments almost everything from back home in these areas. It must have been because of this atmosphere that there was such a rush of Indians and Pakistanis to Dubai for all sorts of jobs!
Hamid lived in a villa in Al Ghurair compound near Satwa. Just opposite to the compound across the expressway was the Dubai trade centre. This was supposed to be the tallest building in Dubai those days. Khurshid wanted me to see it. The tall building had some residential rooms like a hotel and the offices of the centre. There were a number of connected halls for exhibitions. We saw an exhibition which was on those days. It was quite impressive. Subsequently, the Dubai trade centre was completely redone and became one of the best exhibition centres in the Middle East. However, the tallest building became a miniscule affair after the Sheikh Zayed road was virtually converted into Manhattan of Dubai by construction of dozens of sky scrappers!
 
My exploratory visit was quite an experience. I found the place as an important business and tourist hub. It could be a very good selling point for Kashmir tourism. Somehow, I got hooked to the positive atmosphere of Dubai and made over a dozen visits in later years. I felt the same attraction which Hemingway had felt for Paris that he describes in his novel, the "Moveable Feast"! An important event was the Arab Travel Mart, usually held in the first week of May. I must have attended more than half a dozen times this tourism exhibition which I utilised for promoting Kashmir, Ladakh, and Jammu not only among the Dubai residents of Asian origin but also among a large number of foreigners both resident in Dubai and from other countries putting up their stalls in the travel exhibition.
(To be continued….)