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This chapter includes a listing of the country’s leading hotels and resorts, as well as useful telephone numbers and facts for visitors, including information about language, weather, visas, currency and more.

With assistance from SNR Denton, this chapter explains the options for foreign business operations, including how to set up in Dubai and rules on representative branches and local agents. It also outlines employment regulations and the rights of employees. The chapter includes a viewpoint with Michael Kerr, Managing Partner, SNR Denton.

With cooperation from MERALI’S, this chapter outlines Dubai’s tax rules and regulations, including the steps that need to be taken to meet the legal requirements for firms looking to set up in the emirate. The chapter includes a viewpoint with Mahmud Merali, Managing Partner, MERALI’S.

Dubai has emerged as a regional centre for the media industry over the past decade. Indeed, the resilience of the media through the recent economic crisis points to strong fundamentals that will continue to support the sector as it moves forward. Overall, revenues for the first nine months of 2012 in the region amounted to some $12.7bn, a 22% increase over the same period in 2011. While in many parts of the world the print sector has been struggling, for example, newspapers and magazines account for almost 40% of total advertising expenditure in Dubai. Looking ahead, perhaps the biggest area of growth potential is the digital media sector, which has grown from just $15m in 2009 to almost $79m in 2012, and is expected to double again by 2015. Ongoing support from the government and an increasingly transparent industry are likely to help with continuing to attract foreign participation in the sector.

In line with the goals laid out in the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015, industrial growth has done much to lead economic development and diversification. Although significant challenges like debt refinancing and regional competition could arise in the future, both the government and the private sector have proven their resilience in recent years. In particular, the manufacturing sector has seen strong export numbers, with direct exports growing nearly nine-fold between 2005 and 2011, from $3.05bn to $26.7bn. Of this, aluminium continues to be among the emirate’s largest industrial activities, accounting for 15% of manufacturing’s contribution to GDP. Meanwhile, the development of both industrial areas and free zones is continuing to impact the economy in a number of positive ways.

Dubai is well placed to capitalise on emerging trends in the ICT sector to drive economic growth. Indeed, information and communications technology is central to the emirate’s strategy to develop further as a knowledge-based economy. As a result, IT expenditure is expected to continue to expand rapidly, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 11% until 2016. Digital storage solutions, computer hardware and IT services will likely drive much of this growth. Meanwhile, Dubai’s telecoms sector is also well positioned to continue growing rapidly. Boasting almost 13m mobile telephone connections, 1.9m fixed telephone connections and nearly 1m internet users, the sector plays an important role in the economy, contributing almost 5% of GDP and employing more than 10,798 people in 2011. Going forward, the sector is now at a turning point where the focus looks likely to shift from building infrastructure to developing content and services to leverage the hardware segment. This chapter includes interviews with Osman Sultan, CEO, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du); and Ahmad bin Humaidan, Director-General, Dubai eGovernment.