Is Dubai’s dining scene a bubble waiting to burst? Why its expansion could come at a price
Dubai’s booming restaurant scene is testing the limits of its growth-at-all-costs model. How long can it keep feeding its own ambitions?
From suspended tables to underwater lounges, many of the roughly 13,000 food and drink establishments in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, pull out all the stops to attract customers in one of the world’s most saturated dining markets.
These are some of the ways the emirate is competing with its neighbours, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, for tourist dollars. So far, it is beating them handily – Dubai has more restaurants per capita than any major city except Paris.
But the city state’s booming restaurant scene is testing the limits of its growth-at-all-costs model, raising questions about how long Dubai can keep feeding its own ambitions.
The competition is cutthroat, so presentation is key.