Glamping Dubai : Just over a hundred kilometres from Dubai’s skyscrapers, Mohammed al-Kaabi strolls through the tranquil desert along with his friends because the sun sets.
Kaabi, 27, hails from a protracted line of Emiratis, country with a centuries-old Arabian history tied inextricably to the native desert.
Today, he’s among a invasive cluster drawn to a replacement wave of a convention of desert tenting however with all the trimmings of comfort, vogue and currentness.
With ‘glamping’, short for ‘glamorous camping’, metropolis aims to expand on its honor for luxurious town living and its tradition of tenting.
Betting on business at a time of low oil costs, metropolis is currently providing stays in stylish desert trailers, in plush slope lodgings and beach camps, because it seeks to place its own mark on the glamping trend that has sweptwing world business destinations.
“This place is way from the cities and therefore the high-rises,” aforesaid Kaabi, sporting the standard full-length white Emirati gown worn by men.
“Camping is extremely standard within the UAE, however once you need to bring the family it becomes additional difficult,” he added, at a campground in Hatta, close to the Omani border.
“But here, safety and luxury ar provided for.”
A room with… a bed
Camping remains a beloved method of life for several Emiratis, UN agency take their instrumentation and head for the desert from the autumn months onward, once the hot summer heat has light.
Tourists and expat residents additionally progressively favor to escape the hustle and bustle of town.
Dubai welcome a record fifteen.9 million guests in 2018, several of whom were drawn to its mega malls, luxurious hotels and pristine beaches.
It hopes to push the figure up to twenty million guests annually by next year, once it hosts the six-month international trade truthful, Expo 2020.
SEE: I went glamping and currently I don’t need to camp the other method ever once more
The mountainous jap Hatta desert has tons to supply ‘glampers’ with a style for journey however additionally for his or her home comforts.
Near the Hatta dam, campers have a alternative between a trailer, caravan or five-star lodge absolutely equipped with TVs and power points for charging a smartphone.
Seated outside a trailer, Jamil Fahmy, a metropolis resident from Saudi Arabia, aforesaid glamping was the right thanks to escape town while not compromising on hygiene.
“It’s fun, with the fireplace and hanging with friends and every one that, however I in person opt to sleep in an exceedingly space with a bed and a personal rest room, and that is what we have a tendency to get here,” he told alpha fetoprotein.
“It’s nice to be associate degree adventurer and explore and cook hearth, and that is what we have a tendency to did.
“But once the time came, we have a tendency to people into the attractive space and slept on a bed.”
‘Five-star camping’
Rooms with trendy amenities, together with bogs and beds, begin from four hundred dirhams (about R1 565 at R3.91/AED) per night at the Hatta web site, that opened in Gregorian calendar month.
The Hatta tenting project, a part of Dubai’s commit to use business to diversify revenues, is additionally home to a 350-metre nothing wire.
Last year, metropolis long-faced a worsening within the real-estate market because of a provide glut, whereas oil costs additionally born, poignant the UAE as an entire.
Several glamping sites, some on the beach, have popped up across the UAE in recent years, with choices to participate in yoga categories, star gazing or kayaking.
For Jay, a 37-year-old Briton, glamping offers a replacement expertise once a decade within the UAE.
“We’re fairly out-of-door, we have a tendency to came here kayaking before, we have a tendency to did the massive nothing line,” he told alpha fetoprotein, bearing on the Hatta nothing wire.
But, he additional with amusing that with the standard essential variety of tenting “you haven’t got a shower or all the facilities” therefore glamping could be a welcome increase.
“You get the outside and every one of that, and nature, and you’ll barbecue – however you’ll even have a shower and acquire clean!
“It’s not five-star hoteling, however five-star tenting.”