Dubai turns page on pandemic with hottest jobs market in 2 years

Agencies
September 24, 2021

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What may have been the steepest population decline in the Gulf region is giving way to the hottest jobs market Dubai has seen since China detected its first coronavirus case in December 2019.

A turnaround in employment took hold this summer and spread as looser travel restrictions revived business. But while headcounts are swelling with freshly recruited cooks and cabin crew, the economy of the Middle East’s commercial center is facing a fraught path to normalcy.

“We’re bringing people back but managing that carefully along with how we see occupancy moving,” Mark Kirby, chief operating officer of Emaar Hospitality Group, said in an interview. “Now we’re ramping up because the fourth quarter for us is an important time of year.”

Owned by the builder of the world’s tallest tower, the hotel company is looking to employ 200 to 300 people for a range of posts and is hiring both within the United Arab Emirates and from Asian countries that have been slow to reopen amid longer shutdowns. 

As Dubai prepares to kick off the World Expo fair next month, the city’s flagship airline, Emirates, is planning to recruit 3,000 cabin crew and 500 airport services employees to join its hub over the next six months. Amazon is meanwhile looking to create 1,500 jobs in the UAE this year.

The lifting of curbs between Dubai and countries such as the UK, the US, and Saudi Arabia will have a “massive impact,” with about 27 million people passing through this year alone, Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths told Bloomberg Television this week.

While labor shortages and hiring difficulties hold back the labor market in parts of Europe and employment is dropping in countries like Australia after the delta variant of coronavirus forced lockdowns, the oil-rich Gulf region can lean on foreign workers to fill most private-sector jobs. 

Businesses in Dubai’s travel and tourism industry in August saw the sharpest increases in activity and new work in over two years, according to a Purchasing Managers’ Index compiled by IHS Markit.

‘Good Summer’

In the Middle East, “we had a really good summer, well above expectations” as travel corridors gradually opened amid rising vaccination rates, Mark Willis, Accor’s CEO for India, Middle East, Africa & Turkey.

The hospitality industry “has been rehiring across the board for the past three months,” Guy Hutchinson, president, and CEO of Abu Dhabi-based hotel operator Rotana said in an interview. 

In the past three months, Rotana hired about 400 staff across the UAE and will continue to recruit as it opens new hotels, he said. Rotana was forced to lay off less than 5 per cent of its workforce at the start of the pandemic and by the end of February, it rehired 70 per cent of those who were let go.

Research firm STR Global estimated last year that about 30 per cent of jobs in Dubai’s hotel industry were likely to be lost until demand recovers from the pandemic. 

Occupancy at Emaar’s hotels is hovering around 54 per cent while the average daily rate has held up at over 1,000 dirhams per night, Kirby said. 

Emaar’s Plans

Emaar is opening six hotels this year, including its first property in Istanbul and another in Bahrain. It opened three beach hotels in the UAE last year and will open five others in 2022.  

It’s having “active discussions” to open three to four Armani hotels in a number of key cities in Saudi Arabia and Europe, Kirby said, declining to elaborate as the agreements haven’t been signed yet. Emaar Hospitality operates two Armani hotels, one in the world’s tallest tower in Dubai and another in Milan. 

While Emaar isn’t currently in talks to sell any of its properties, the company is “looking at an asset-light model strategy” for its hotel division, Kirby said. In 2018, Emaar Hospitality Group sold five hotels, including the flagship Address Dubai Mall and Address Boulevard to Abu Dhabi National Hotels.

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News Network
November 22,2025

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The Israeli regime’s forces have killed two Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip every day since the ceasefire began in early October, UNICEF has warned.

The UN children’s agency said on Friday that Israeli forces continue to attack Palestinians in Gaza even though the agreement was meant to stop the killing.

“Since 11 October, while the ceasefire has been in effect, at least 67 children have been killed in conflict-related incidents in the Gaza Strip. Dozens more have been injured. That is an average of almost two children killed every day since the ceasefire took effect,” UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires said in Geneva, reminding that each number in the statistics represents a child whose life had ended violently.

“These are not statistics,” he said. “Each child had a story, a family, and a future that was stolen from them.”

Data from Palestinian factions, human rights groups, and government bodies recorded since the US-brokered ceasefire deal went into effect on October 10 show that Israeli forces have carried out numerous attacks, each constituting a separate ceasefire violation.

UNICEF teams say they repeatedly continue to witness heart-wrenching scenes of fearful Palestinian children sleeping outdoors with amputated limbs, while others live as orphans in flooded, makeshift shelters.

“I saw this myself in August. There is no safe place for them. The world cannot normalize their suffering,” Pires said, lamenting that the UN could “do a lot more if the aid that is really needed was entering faster.”

The UNICEF spokesperson warned that with the advent of winter, the risks for hundreds of thousands of displaced children will increase.

He warned, “The stakes are incredibly high” for children as winter acts as a threat multiplier, where children have no heating, no insulation, and few blankets. He said respiratory infections rise.

“Too many children have already paid the highest price,” Pires said. “Too many are still paying it, even under a ceasefire. The world promised them it would stop and that we would protect them.”

“Now we must act like it,” the UNICEF spokesperson added.

Since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, it has killed nearly 70,000 people in the territory, most of them women and children, and injured over 170,000 more, while reducing most of the structures in the enclave to rubble.

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News Network
November 24,2025

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Israel has launched a new act of aggression on a residential neighborhood in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, killing and injuring about two dozen civilians.

The Israeli regime's military said in a statement that its forces carried out a so-called precise strike in a residential apartment in Dahiyeh in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday.

The aggression targeted residential areas, killing at least five people and injuring more than 28 people, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. 

Hezbollah announced the martyrdom of senior Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai and four resistance fighters.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun condemned the airstrike, calling it a clear demonstration of Tel Aviv’s disregard for repeated international calls to halt violations on Lebanese soil.

“Israel refuses to implement international resolutions and all efforts aimed at ending the escalation and restoring stability,” Aoun said, urging the international community to take action to prevent further aggression.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement also condemned the attack, holding the international community accountable. 

“The international community bears responsibility and continues to provide cover for these attacks as long as it does not restrain the occupiers,” said Ali Abu Shahin, a member of the group’s political bureau.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the Israeli army carried out a strike “in the heart of Beirut."

Netanyahu reportedly approved the operation following recommendations from top Israeli security officials.

Two senior US officials commented on the Israeli strike.

The first official said that Israel did not notify Americans in advance about the attack. "We were informed immediately after the strike was carried out."

The second senior official said that the "US knew for several days that Israel was planning to escalate its strikes in Lebanon, but did not know in advance the timing, location, or target of the strike."

Speaking from the site of the Israeli strike, Lebanese MP Ali Ammar condemned the attack as part of a broader campaign of aggression that has targeted "all of Lebanon since the Washington-sponsored ceasefire."

He stated that "any attack on Lebanon is a violation of red lines; this aggression is part and parcel of the entity that targets Lebanon's dignity, sovereignty, and security of citizens."

Ammar went on to say the resistance is responding with "utmost wisdom, patience, and will confront the enemy at the appropriate time."

"Unfortunately, the enemy is emboldened to commit its aggression by voices within Lebanon that have turned themselves into tools that support its aggression," he added.

The Israeli attack on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital is the latest blatant violation of the ceasefire Israel signed with Hezbollah in November 2024, which was intended to end hostilities that had escalated into full-scale war.

An Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh camp near Sidon in southern Lebanon late Tuesday killed at least 14 people. It wounded several others, including young students, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The military claimed the attack targeted “a Hamas training compound” used to plan and carry out attacks against the regime -- a claim that has frequently been made without evidence.

Hamas rejected the allegations as “a blatant lie aimed at justifying the massacre,” stating it had “no military installations in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon” and that the targeted site was merely “an open sports field.”

According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 4,000 people and displaced more than 1.2 million residents across the country since October 2023.

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News Network
November 26,2025

Mangaluru, Nov 26: Mangaluru East police have registered a case following a sophisticated online fraud where a 57-year-old local resident was allegedly cheated out of ₹13.4 lakh after being targeted on Facebook.

The scam began in February when the complainant, while browsing Facebook reels, was contacted by a woman identifying herself as "Lillian Mary George" from London. After establishing a chat relationship, the woman claimed she would visit India in November and bring a significant sum of money.

The trap was sprung on November 15, when the victim received a call from a woman named "Sonali Gupta," who claimed Lillian had arrived at Mumbai International Airport but was detained by customs. The fraudsters convinced the man that Lillian was carrying £25,000 (about ₹26 lakh) in traveller’s cheques and 1 kg of gold (valued at around ₹30 lakh).

Under the pretense of clearing these items, the victim was asked to make numerous online transfers between November 15 and 18 for various bogus charges, including:

•    "Pounds exchange registration"
•    "Customs declaration issues"
•    "Discount charges"
•    "Money-laundering charges"

Believing the fictitious story, the complainant transferred the cumulative sum of ₹13.4 lakh to various bank accounts provided by the fraudsters. He realised he was cheated when the culprits later promised a refund within two days but stopped answering his calls. The Mangaluru East police are now investigating the case, which highlights the continuing threat of transnational cyber fraud using social engineering and promises of fictitious wealth.

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