Abdulatif Ghandoor, oriental chef at Arabian Courtyard, cooking traditional Emirati bread at the Barjeel Guest House. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National
Abdulatif Ghandoor, oriental chef at Arabian Courtyard, cooking traditional Emirati bread at the Barjeel Guest House. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

Dubai feeds tourists’ taste for tradition



DUBAI // Heritage tourism is being given a major push as Dubai works towards Expo 2020 and winning Unesco World Heritage status for the old city.

Emirati-themed guesthouses in areas such as Heritage Village and Bastakiya, the oldest inhabited part of Dubai, are being given support by the Heritage Department and the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), to ensure visitors experience the authentic, Emirati side of the city.

Mona Hauser, owner of the XVA gallery and guesthouse in Bastakiya which has been open since 2003, has just expanded the guesthouse from nine to 13 rooms. She is hoping her business will grow into the nearby houses that have been there since the early 20th century.

“There’s a lot of space not being used,” she said. “This is a place people want to see. The kind of clientele we have want to be in the cultural area and stay in a boutique hotel, not a five-star hotel where you wake up and could really be in any country.”

Support from the DTCM has increased in recent months as the push towards Expo 2020 has been stepped up. Recently a Unesco team stayed at the hotel when assessing whether the area was a candidate to become a world heritage site along with others around the Creek and old Dubai.

“When I first opened, I rarely saw anyone from the DTCM and it seemed that DTCM representatives in other countries were doing more to promote the area than those here, but now they’re actually bringing people here and expressing their pride in this area,” Ms Hauser said.

She added that such support was vital to keep the area vibrant and help develop it as an artists’ district. XVA, ranked 20th of 470 hotels in Dubai on the TripAdvisor website, was the former home to the Siddiqi family, one of the emirate’s most prominent families. The area is steeped in tradition and history.

Nearby, in Heritage Village, the growing popularity of heritage tourism has also been witnessed with the year-old Barjeel guesthouse. The nine-room Emirati-style hotel has recently introduced Emirati cuisine to the menu. This has proved popular not only with tourists but with its local clientele.

“Our Emirati guests really like to come to the guesthouse and feel their own tradition,” said the chef, Abdulatif Ghandoor, who has been trained in several royal palaces and by Emirati elders to cook local cuisine.

“They bring their friends, their family and we get a lot of guests coming from other emirates and people who just come from nearby for the Emirati breakfast especially.”

Shahbaz Chaudhry, manager of food and beverage at the hotel, said: “When we first opened people were really surprised to see something like this in Dubai.

“Previously they had to travel to other emirates to really experience that feeling of Emirati hospitality, so it’s really helping the emirate,” he said.

“People want to experience that heritage and tradition. There were certainly no places offering Emirati food, which it seems there has been a real demand for. The camel meat dishes especially are really popular.”

The group’s four hotels include three Emirati-themed guesthouses in old Dubai; Ahmedia in Al Khor, which opened in 2012; and Orient Guest House in Bastakiya which has been in business since 2006.

Farhan Zafar, director of sales for the group, said Dubai needed this kind of boost.

“People who come here want to learn more about the history of Dubai and its culture,” he said.

“It is important for Dubai to show this to explain how it is one of the fastest-developing cities in the world. Not all the visitors who come here come for the shopping or the beach, and certainly not the guests we have in our guesthouses.”

mswan@thenational.ae

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Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

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Power: 136hp @ 4,500rpm (Cooper) / 192hp @ 5,000rpm (Cooper S)
Torque: 220Nm @ 1,480rpm (Cooper) / 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (Cooper S)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 4.8L to 5.4L / 100km

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.”

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Lions tour fixtures

3 JuneProvincial BarbariansWon 13-7

7 JuneBluesLost 22-16

10 JuneCrusadersWon 12-3

13 JuneHighlandersLost 23-22

17 JuneMaori All BlacksWon 32-10

20 JuneChiefsWon 34-6

24 JuneNew ZealandLost 30-15

27 JuneHurricanes

1 JulyNew Zealand

8 JulyNew Zealand

The past winners

2009 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

2010 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

2011 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)

2012 - Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)

2013 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

2014 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2015 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

2016 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2017 - Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

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Day 1 fixtures (Saturday)

Men 1.45pm, Malaysia v Australia (Court 1); Singapore v India (Court 2); UAE v New Zealand (Court 3); South Africa v Sri Lanka (Court 4)

Women Noon, New Zealand v South Africa (Court 3); England v UAE (Court 4); 5.15pm, Australia v UAE (Court 3); England v New Zealand (Court 4)

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Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23

UAE fixtures:
Men

Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final

Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
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Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
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Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final

Fire and Fury
By Michael Wolff,
Henry Holt


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