Dubai Accelerates Positioning as Remote Working Hub

Shayan Zaeem, co-founder and president of Revolving Games, is just one of thousands of remote workers around the globe. He has landed up in Dubai, which is ramping up efforts to pitch itself as a destination for more people like him.

His company, which is currently working on a new BattleStar Galactica game with Universal Studios, is headquartered in San Francisco but due to the pandemic scaled its operations globally.

“Most people prefer working from home in the tech industry, and Dubai was a no brainer for me,” he said, tempted by the infrastructure and facilities of the "vibrant, multifaceted city."

Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, launched a one-year virtual working program in 2020 that Zaeem took advantage of. It has so far received 30,000 enquiries (a spokesperson didn’t confirm the number of visas approved).

The United Arab Emirates has also introduced a raft of new longer term 5 and 10-year residency Golden Visas, 80,000 of which were issued last year.

Now Dubai's looking to appeal to a wider demographic following a new partnership with Airbnb, among other initiatives.

Airbnb Backing

Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism set up an online remote working hub with Airbnb in December last year. The Middle Eastern city is one of 20 global destinations in the home-sharing platform’s Live and Work Anywhere initiative.

Airbnb also published a guide for governments outlining recommendations for how communities can benefit economically in September 2022.

“We’re delighted to be one of the 20 destinations to partner with Airbnb and we expect to see a positive uplift in remote working," said Issam Kazim, CEO of the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing.

The remote working focus comes as the United Arab Emirates looks to boost tourism’s contribution to the national gross domestic product to $122 billion a year by 2031. Its new UAE Tourism Strategy 2031 also targets 40 million hotel guests in 2031. Dubai alone received 14 million international overnight visitors in 2022, double the amount of 2021.

A 'Pricey' Destination

Part of its strategy to draw more people probably also explains why it made alcoholic drinks cheaper, but there are concerns Dubai — like many fast-recovering destinations — may soon start pricing out digital nomads.

The emirate is classified as “pricey” by the well-respected Nomadlist, with members reporting an average monthly accommodation spend of $3,652.

“For well-paid remote workers that like vibrant cities, it will be one of the shortlisted countries for sure,” said Mark Phillips, founder of Nomad Stays. ”But for most digital nomads, probably not. It’s just too expensive.”

Phillips also thinks Airbnb is pushing Dubai to move upmarket to compete with Expedia’s VRBO brand.

But for Zaeem, Dubai is a "melting pot" destination that can suit different budgets. “It depends on the person and what kind of lifestyle they want to live," he said. “Yes it can be expensive if that's the lifestyle you choose for yourself, however, if you want to live moderately and still want to enjoy a decent lifestyle you can do that as well easily.”

Apartment rentals for locals are also soaring, which could deter many digital nomads who seek out cheaper destinations to maximize their length of stay, as costs creep up to target tourists.

Portugal has seen this recently, and as a result plans to axe its Golden Visa scheme and ban new licenses for Airbnbs and other short-term rentals.

Will Dubai be able to keep its remote work allure if tourism takes over?

Sidenotes

U.S.-based accommodation startup Landing has been inspired by the practice of flying standby.

The so-called next-gen lodging platform this week added a new membership tier, called Standby, which borrows from the concept of only getting onboard the plane if there's an empty seat.

Rather than paying a particular rate for an apartment (for example in Austin, Texas it can cost anywhere from $1,552 to $7,022 a month) its Standby rate is a flat $1,295 a month, no matter the city, or size of the apartment. New York and California are excluded for now.

The catch, though, is you lose a lot of stability, because if the apartment is reserved by a non-Standby Landing member who wants to pay the normal rate, they get just three days’ notice to transfer to another Landing home.

But Standby members can also move to a new location with just three days' notice.

Landing, which has 20,000 apartments in 375 cities, said the new membership tier “maximizes value and flexibility for renters” and is designed to tap into the work-from-anywhere economy.

It's an interesting concept, especially as inflation starts to bite. And with 19 million Americans planning on relocating due to their flexible work arrangement, according to Upwork, the market is vast. Google recently added last-minute short-term rental Whimstay as its latest partner, so traveler appetite for these sorts of distressed stock deals appears to be on the rise.

10-Second Corporate Travel Catch-Up

Who and what Skift has covered over the past week: Accor, CitizenM, FCM Travel, Global Hotel Alliance, group bookings, IHG, United Airlines, Sabre, Wordly.

In Brief

Oyo Adds More Premium Hotels for India's Business Travelers

Indian hospitality group Oyo is doubling the number of its premium hotels in India this year to meet growing demand for business travelers. It will now add 1,800 premium hotels, with brands include hotels such as Townhouse Oak, OYO Townhouse, Collection O and Capital O, after adding 400 new in the last quarter of 2022. It will focus on Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai. Oyo said demand for premium segment hotels picked up significantly in the last few months, due to business transient and group bookings, alongside weddings.

The company last month said it was still keen to pursue an initial public offering.

Ride Hail Firm Bolt Invests in Africa

Mobility app Bolt is investing $500 million in Africa, according to reports, over the next two years. It wants to add 300,000 new drivers and couriers to join its platform in 2023. Bolt launched in South Africa in 2016, and Bolt Business, its corporate travel arm, is available there as well as Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania and Kenya. Bolt employs 500 people on the continent.