General Question

pcmonkey's avatar

Does Dubai have any other ways of earning money other than tourism and oil?

Asked by pcmonkey (427points) August 31st, 2011

No, this is not for school! But I’m really curious! Thanks for any possible answers!

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

9 Answers

Judi's avatar

Well, Haliburton just moved their headquarters there, so I would assume it is a great place to hide assets, for a fee of course.

dabbler's avatar

What else do you need ?

However the CIA lists for the United Arab Emirates as a whole 7% Agriculture and 15% Industry in these areas:
Agriculture – products:
dates, vegetables, watermelons; poultry, eggs, dairy products; fish
Industries:
petroleum and petrochemicals; fishing, aluminum, cement, fertilizers, commercial ship repair, construction materials, some boat building, handicrafts, textiles

“Services” make up the rest of the economy, which includes parking Haliburton’s money.

Nullo's avatar

@dabbler So when they’re out of oil, the whole thing will become a shambles.

galadriel's avatar

translation services maybe

funkdaddy's avatar

If you read the link it says only about 25% of the economy is based on petroleum.

Considering they don’t have many other natural resources, that would show a fairly developed and skilled workforce. Very unlikely it will all fall apart, and plenty of time to plan for a decrease in oil production.

Also, if open, uninhabited spaces with constant sun and an existing infrastructure proves to be a commodity for solar production, they have plenty there as well.

zenvelo's avatar

They are a regional banking center, and they have a regional stock exchange. They have focused on diversifying their economy so that they are less dependent on oil.

dabbler's avatar

@Nullo “So when they’re out of oil, the whole thing will become a shambles.” Sure, maybe here too. Most of the civilizations that we know about in human history crashed when they overran their respective energy supplies.

If Dubai can pull off this tourism thing (which is catching on), and ocean-rising from global warming doesn’t swamp all their developed land, and the 80% non-resident workforce doesn’t rebel, they could just maybe pull it off w/o petroleum. Yep.

flutherother's avatar

Yes, they have tried succesfully to diversify the economy as oil is likely to run out within 20 years. The economy today is based on property, trade and financial services.

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