Spas and massage salons in Dubai have received the green light to resume services.
A new circular issued by the Government of Dubai and Dubai Economy announced that spas and massage services were allowed to open once again as of Saturday, as long as they adhere to strict precautionary measures.
According to the circular, spa and massage centres inside hotels and malls, and grade A and B salons outside malls, are now allowed to resume all services, with the exception of steam rooms, saunas, inhalation rooms, ice rooms, Jacuzzis, hot baths and hammams.
That means treatments that are allowed at the moment include massages, scrubs and facials.
For the time being, treatments can be done on an appointment-only basis, and spas have to ensure appointments are scheduled to allow time for cleaning and disinfecting between services.
The circular specifies that creams and scrubs have to be applied using disposable wooden sticks. Staff and visitors should wear face masks at all times and are encouraged to wear gloves. Therapists must adhere to strict hand-washing routines between clients. If used, gloves must be changed between clients, while two metres of social distancing between visitors must be enforced.
Shared amenity kits in changing areas must be removed and replaced by individually wrapped amenity kits placed in lockers. Food and drinks must be served in disposable containers, and self-service water dispensers must be replaced by sealed water bottles or machine dispensers.
Disposable bed covers must also be used and changed between clients, with bins made available at entrances and common areas. The face cushion on massage beds needs to be cleaned and disinfected between uses, and the cover changed after every client.
Spas also have to hold a thorough disinfection programme before reopening, while equipment (such as hot stones and roller massage sticks) must be cleaned after each use.
Home salon services also resuming
According to another circular distributed by Dubai Municipality, at-home salon services were also allowed to commence from Saturday, July 4.
Massages and spa services can only be conducted by grade A and B spas, salons and barbershops, while equipment must be disinfected after each use.
Staff must wear masks, face shields, gloves and suitable uniforms during procedures, while visitors have to wear face masks.
There must be an increase in the frequency of cleaning and disinfection, with the therapist’s tools, bag and clothes needing to be disinfected before entering a client's home. Shoes need to be left outside, with disposable shoes only allowed indoors.
Staff older than 60 or anyone with chronic diseases should not provide home-care services.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
