DUBAI // While some people who enjoyed the finer things in life in the economic boom are offloading their big-ticket purchases, others are looking at lowering expenses through joint ownership of private planes, holiday homes and yachts.
Almost 50 years after the idea of timeshare was introduced in the French Alps to help a group of friends buy a holiday home by pooling their money, it is undergoing a revival in the Emirates.
"The main attraction is the cost sharing," said Wael Hussein Amer, the deputy general manager for financial and administration affairs at the Dubai timeshare company Arabian Falcon.
"Take an example of people who maintained holiday homes in Dubai. They would only use the homes a few times in a year but they would bear full purchase and maintenance costs of the properties.
"With timeshare, they can still have their holiday a few times a year at a quality property, paying a fraction of the cost of holiday-home maintenance."
After the global financial crisis, many luxury goods buyers have found themselves with less cash. To some, the timeshare is a viable alternative that can enable them to maintain their luxury lifestyle within constrained budgets.
There is also a question of risk. At a time when people are losing money, they are more cautious about their investments. Instead of buying a Dh3 million (US$816,000) property, they would now prefer to pay Dh100,000 or less for a timeshare, Mr Amer said.
Following the trend in other parts of the world, the idea of timeshare in the UAE is growing beyond property to luxury items such as yachts.
"We are going to start a yacht time-sharing in the first or second week of March," said Sam al Abbasi, the managing director of 4Yacht Arabia. "We will have three or four yachts for time-sharing in the UAE."
4Yacht will have timeshare options ranging from a few weeks to several months.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
The years Ramadan fell in May
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
FIXTURES
Monday, January 28
Iran v Japan, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Tuesday, January 29
UAEv Qatar, Mohamed Bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)
Friday, February 1
Final, Zayed Sports City Stadium (6pm)
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COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
Getting there
The flights
Flydubai operates up to seven flights a week to Helsinki. Return fares to Helsinki from Dubai start from Dh1,545 in Economy and Dh7,560 in Business Class.
The stay
Golden Crown Igloos in Levi offer stays from Dh1,215 per person per night for a superior igloo; www.leviniglut.net
Panorama Hotel in Levi is conveniently located at the top of Levi fell, a short walk from the gondola. Stays start from Dh292 per night based on two people sharing; www. golevi.fi/en/accommodation/hotel-levi-panorama
Arctic Treehouse Hotel in Rovaniemi offers stays from Dh1,379 per night based on two people sharing; www.arctictreehousehotel.com
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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