UAE: Dubai

The aviation industry appears set to face increasing challenges over the next six months as airlines face lower than expected profits as a result of high fuel costs. However, with Dubai continuing to expand its airport capacity, the emirate is looking to position itself to take advantage of growth markets in South-east Asia.

The emirate’s banking sector is still working to shake off the lingering effects of the global financial crisis, with lenders having to make higher provisions for debts than some of their neighbours who were less encumbered when the global economy went into decline.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, Dubai’s construction sector has been slow to recover, with a near freeze on new developments. However, there are signs that the industry is beginning to move forward again.

The California-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has published the long-awaited list of organisations seeking to obtain new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), commonly recognised as internet address endings or suffixes. Dubai eGovernment (DeG) is one of the more than 1900 applicants for gTLDs and is hoping to secure the recently dubbed dotDubai suffix.

Work to build on the emirate’s reputation as a tourist destination by easing visa regulations and encouraging cruise tourism is under way but there are concerns that the European debt crisis and uncertainty regarding the global economic climate have the potential to weaken demand.

Prices in Dubai’s residential property segment have posted solid growth over the past few months, and other areas of the sector are also showing signs that recent declines are beginning to reverse. However, due to excess supply in many segments, it will be some time before demand catches up with new development.