Dubai

Country: United Arab Emirates · 3,944,751 inhabitants · Founded: 1833

Attractions

Wikivoyage

Dubai (Arabic: دبي‎‎ Dubayy) is a cosmopolitan metropolis and global city on the Arabian Peninsula. The city is one of the ten most popular tourist destinations in the world. The city is also considered one of the most modern and progressive cities in the Middle East – certainly in the Arab world – and is also sometimes nicknamed as "City of Gold" due to historically being a hub for gold trade as well as the rapid transformation from a desert into a luxurious city.

Dubai is characterized by a vast landscape of desert which transforms into a futuristic style of skyscrapers along the coastline. The city offers both insights into the old merchant and pearl diving history of the Arabs in Deira and Bur Dubai and the new modern skyscraper business and bustling life in Jumeirah and Jebel Ali. Dubai is sometimes mistakenly thought of as a country, but it is actually one of the emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. It is the financial centre of the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai is also considered a commercial and cultural hub of the Middle East, it's a global transport hub, and has attracted world attention through many large innovative construction projects and sports events. The city is symbolised by its skyscrapers, including the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, in addition to ambitious development projects including man-made islands, world-class luxury hotels, and some of the largest and extraordinarily modern shopping malls in the world.

Wikipedia

Dubai is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai. It is on a creek on the southeastern coast of the Persian Gulf. As of 2025, its population stands at 4 million, 92% of whom are expatriates. The wider urban area includes Sharjah and has a population of 5 million people as of 2023, while the Dubai–Sharjah–Ajman metropolitan area has a population of 6 million people.

Founded in the early 18th century as a pearling and fishing settlement, Dubai became a regional trade hub in the 20th century after declaring itself a free port (1901) and extending the Creek (1961). Modest oil revenue helped accelerate Dubai's development from the 1960s to the 1990s, when the city started to diversify its economy. In 2018, oil production contributed less than 1% to the emirate's GDP.

Rapid construction since the 1990s has produced one of the world's densest skylines, including the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. Extensive land-reclamation projects have added more than 300 kilometres (190 mi) of artificial coastline. The city has a large real estate market, especially in the luxury segment.

Dubai's economy centres on trade, tourism, aviation, financial services, and real estate. The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is one of the world's major financial centres. In 2024, Dubai was the seventh most-visited city globally. Dubai International Airport (DXB) is the world's busiest airport for international passenger traffic, handling over 92 million passengers in 2024.