His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has ordered the cancellation of all forms of celebrations marking the New Year in Dubai emirate, as an act of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Government/10271287.html
Hotels are NOT going to be happy about this. They're already complaining that the financial crisis has brought a 25% reduction in their occupancy rates. Mind you - this means that occupancy has gone from 90% fill rate to 70% fill rate. Hotels in the US would give their eye teeth for 70% fill rate.
I only heard by accident as I was walking into the office. I'm sure there will be lots of people who show up tonight at the hotels all dolled up for the evening out only to find that their evening has been cancelled. I can't WAIT to read the letters section of our local paper. This is bound to stir up the debate.
Russell and I had nothing planned - so little impact on us. We'll quietly raise a glass in toast at the stroke of midnight. That is, if we're still awake.
Update:
Turns out that the "cancellations" applied to outdoor events. Hotels and other indoor venues were allowed to continue their parties, but we asked to hold a more subdued event. I don't know exactly what subdued means. I think that all live music was cancelled - but maybe DJs were allowed. We ended up going over to the neighbors and had a great time. Lyra stayed up until midnight and was thrilled to see in the new year.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Really? Private hotel functions too?
Yep, really.
Wow. Just wow. Happy New Year anyway!
perhaps you can just pretend to blow into the noisemakers??? :o)
What's sad is that they consider DJ's "live music"!
Post a Comment