UAE: Dubai top destination for Christmas: Survey

Dhanusha Gokulan / 24 December 2012

DUBAI - Who said Christmas needs to be white? Bing Crosby may have been a fan, but hordes of other travellers are choosing destinations like Dubai where it is possible to get a tan over Christmas dinner.

British Airways Middle East and Central Asia area commercial manager Paolo De Renzis said Dubai was one of the top five destinations people were choosing to fly to this festive season, alongside Miami, Cape Town, Hong Kong and New York.

“Which shows that, with the exception of New York, people are looking for a warmer way to spend Christmas and New Year.”
The news comes as Dubai International Airport released projections on next year’s passengers, forecast to hit 66 million — up nine million on this year’s expected footfall.
The airport, which continues to handle around five million passengers a month, reported monthly traffic at 4.87 million for November. While total passenger numbers for the first 11 months of the year reached 52.36 million. 

Meanwhile, more than 2,660 people voted on a British Airways travel poll of where they wanted to visit next year, and Dubai again came up as one of the most popular, with New York, Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro.

Finance professional Kashif Baig said: “I don’t particularly celebrate Christmas but we generally tend to stick with family and friends and And the silly season in the country is becoming more popular with local residents as well, with Santa taking up residence in various grottos across the city, the turkey stuffing made, cookies baked and the stockings stuffed with Christmas gifts.

For a country that does not traditionally celebrate Christmas, the air in UAE is rife with the festive spirit.
Most Christian expatriate families began preparations weeks ago. Leonard Abraham, a resident of Sharjah said: “Christmas is strictly a family affair. We started prepping up for Christmas weeks ago. The festivities usually begin with the midnight mass and exchange of gifts. Later we heard over to our homes for lunch, which is usually a big feast.”
Another resident Kurian Matthew said: “Christmas means spending time with family and friends. You don’t usually feel like you are missing out on your home town because so many people celebrate Christmas actively here. For expatriates, the biggest concern would be missing home and family, but the spirit of the celebrations are so high here, you feel right at home.”
Khaleej Times also caught up with a few non-Christians, who said that they got pulled into the festivities because of the atmosphere. They said the decorations at shopping malls, hotels and restaurants got them into the mood for Christmas, and they appreciated Dubai’s multiculturalism which gave the opportunity to celebrate various festivals from across the world.
Lebanese national Hassan Ghanem (17) said: “We don’t usually celebrate Christmas at our homes, but we do visit our friends who celebrate the festival. It is usually a family affair, but now you have so many offers in malls and hotels, a lot of people venture outside as well. This time we did set up a Christmas tree at home and we might go to our family friends place for barbeque.”
For students Merah Hashmi and Inaas Ahmed, Christmas is a time that they exchange gifts with friends and head over to their houses to celebrate together. “We exchange gifts with some of our friends and the general feeling of the holidays and winter season around the place makes you want to become a part of festivities.”celebrate with them. The thing about Dubai is that there are diverse mixes of nationalities which make celebrations a lot more obvious.”

Source: Khaleej Times of Dubai.