Have you been there (before the war)? If so, what is it like? I know that it gets overhyped because of influencers and wealthy digital nomads. Too expensive and a concrete jungle as the country feels fake (an amusement park for elites). “Dubai” is often mistaken as the country’s name when that’s an emirate within the UAE (like Abu Dhabi).
No many are native (or that’s how it looks) since there’s more expats than the native population (Emirati’s). The reason why it gets hyped is because there’s no income tax meaning people have more disposable income. Most of the workers paid minimum wage are from certain countries (India, Philippines, Nepal), it’s that common there.
Downvoted because you answer your own question in the body. Extreme inequality, amusement park for the elite, “it feels fake”, full of western
expatsimmigrants who don’t want to pay taxes in their homeland, built on the back of the polluting oil industry and underpaid workers who have difficulty leaving the country.Of course it’s overrated! It should be despised way more than it is!
