<\/p>\n
According to the authorities of the organizing country, 160 flights will serve daily as a shuttle between the host country and its neighbors.<\/b>of which there will be about thirty from Dubai, one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
These charter flights are a blessing for the almost ten million inhabitants of the Emirates, the vast majority of whom are expatriates such as Firas Yassine, a fan of the French national team.<\/p>\n
This young Franco-Lebanese resident in Dubai did not hesitate to buy tickets to attend the first World Cup organized in the Middle East with his wife.<\/p>\n
But seeing the prices of hotel rooms in Doha, they decided to make the round trip to the city on November 26, arriving five hours before kick-off and returning a few hours after the end of the match.<\/p>\n
“I will visit the city, I will see the game and I will return home,” he tells AFP.<\/p>\n
The Dubai authorities hope that this option will also appeal to football fans from abroad.<\/p>\n
Qatar plans to host between 1 and 1.2 million people during the World Cup<\/b>but some fans complain about the lack of proposed accommodation in Doha, the restrictions on alcohol and the lack of entertainment in this wealthy but small conservative Muslim country.<\/p>\n
Less rich in hydrocarbons than its neighboring emirates, Dubai has nonetheless established itself as a world tourist enclave, with its innumerable hotels, bars, shopping malls and over-the-top attractions.<\/p>\n
“Up to a million visitors” could roll their bags around the Emirates during the World Cup<\/b>as expected by the public body Dubai Sports Council, in a statement released last week.<\/p>\n
Authorities had announced earlier this month that multiple-entry visas would be granted to match ticket holders.<\/p>\n
Some fans “will want to take advantage of the occasion to visit the two countries”, he foresees Expat Sports<\/i>a tourism agency specializing in sporting events, based in the Emirates.<\/p>\n
“Dubai is known worldwide and numerous activities linked to football will be proposed,” he adds in an email to AFP.<\/p>\n
The emirate announced the opening of several fan zones, in the parks, on the beaches or in the financial center of Dubai, famous for its many luxury restaurants.<\/p>\n
A hotel, on the artificial island of The Palm, will also be entirely reserved for football fans.<\/p>\n
Expat Sports says it has seen strong demand for bookings “from Mexico, the UK, Europe and India.” “At this rate, we expect the hotel to be complete,” he says.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, the Emirates Prime Minister and Dubai’s leader, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rachid Al-Maktoum, indicated that tourism revenues had risen to $5 billion in the first half of 2022, relying on “strong performance”. this winter”.<\/p>\n
Before the pandemic, Dubai alone received almost 16 million tourists in 2019, against 5.51 million the year after and 7.3 million last year.<\/b><\/p>\n
In addition to “the advantage of being a major tourist destination”, the emirate stands out compared to other Gulf cities by “lighter social norms about certain cultural aspects, such as alcohol consumption or dress codes<\/b>“, notes James Swanston of Capital Economics<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Normally in Qatar, the sale of alcohol is limited to a government store and about thirty hotel bars and restaurants.<\/p>\n
The organization tried to reassure fans last week by announcing that beer stalls would open for a few hours around the stadiums and in the main FIFA “fan zones” in Doha.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n