Dubai: Has the tourism bubble really burst? (Scroll down to article)

Press reports are full of the collapse of the Middle East's most lavish metropolis. Is the party really over for Dubai? Chloe Berman looks behind the headlines
(04 June 2009)

Forty years ago, Dubai was nothing more than a small fishing village where people came to dive for pearls. The fortunes of the city were completely transformed when oil was discovered in 1966.

However, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the ruler at the time, could see that the oil reserves would not last forever. In a bid to diversify the economy, he created a vision of a city that would rely on manufacturing, construction and, of course, tourism.