DESERT FANTASIES - Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism - page 130

tractors who flew into Dubai on their way to Iraq or Afghanistan or Pakistan, with some ser-
ious time off in the emirate. These young men with short haircuts looked like they might
have been recently discharged from the Marines and were hired on contract to take part
in one of the wars—as private guards, in logistics, transport or a dozen other fields. Dubai
reminded me of Thailand during the Vietnam War, when American soldiers were given
short vacations from the war for R & R (rest and recuperation) and many of them spent
their time off on Thai beaches and Bangkok bars, marking the beginning of the Thai tour-
ism boom.
With its monolithic government devoted to tourism, Dubai and the UAE have cashed
in on the eruptions of war and revolution in the Middle East. In the spring of 2011,
Dubai hit the jackpot when thousands of tourists fled Egypt as the government faced down
demonstrators demanding freedom in Cairo's Tahrir Square. This Arab Spring of revolu-
tion was a historic turning point for democracy but a headache for the tourist industry
as cruise ships were diverted to Turkey and holiday makers switched their vacations from
Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh Red Sea Resort to Dubai, lifting hotel occupancy by more than
25 percent and adding thousands more shoppers to the crowds attending Dubai's annual
Shopping Festival. Tunisia, where the revolts against corrupt dictatorships began, lost half
of its tourism business, some of it diverted to Dubai.
In 2011, during the wave of revolutions, Dubai emerged as the top city for tourism in
all of the Middle East and Africa, attracting not only the greatest number of tourists but
the greatest amount of money spent by tourists.
That success has translated into an impact on the biggest single annual tourist event in
the world—the Hajj pilgrimage during five days of the twelfth month of the Islamic cal-
endar. Devout Muslims are required to make the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia,
once in their lifetimes, as long as they are physically fit and can afford the journey. Mecca
was the town where the Prophet was born and lived until he moved to Medina, where he
died. With the modern ease in travel and inexpensive airfare, the pressure for permission
to make the Hajj to Mecca is immense. No more than 3 million Muslims are given visas
every year. (The shorter Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca can be taken at any time of the year
and is not required.)
Religious pilgrims were some of the first true mass tourists in history. Worshipers trav-
eling as a group to foreign lands to seek salvation needed lodging and food, inspiring
innkeepers and Church officials to open their doors to the faithful and create new busi-
nesses and direct religious spectacles. Eventually, Christians followed three great pilgrim-
age routes: to Jerusalem, to Rome and to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in
Spain.
The Islamic pilgrimage of the Hajj has been in continual practice since the seventh
century. The traditional route to Mecca was overland, from Damascus, Cairo and Aqaba,
traveling south down the western edge of the Arabian Peninsula to Mecca. Or they