Hub report compares Dubai to 7 other global hubs

Knight Frank’s ‘Dubai: The Hub Report 2018’ looks how Dubai fares compared to seven other global hubs on offices, industrial, residential and hospitality. No analysis of medical tourism but comparing Dubai in terms of number of beds there is significant potential for growth in the healthcare centre.

UK based property agents Knight Frank publish a series of reports on the global real estate market. Their Dubai office has published the latest of a series of reports comparing Dubai with Sydney, Shanghai, New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore.

‘Dubai: The Hub Report 2018’ looks how Dubai fares compared to seven other global hubs on 4 key property sectors on both a macro and micro level: offices, industrial, residential and hospitality.

The report has been wrongly represented in some media reports as highlighting that Dubai has huge potential as a world class centre for medical tourism. In reality, medical tourism only gets a passing mention.

The overall conclusion is that Dubai’s status as a global hub will continue to strengthen given its extensive connectivity, strong economic prospects, low tax system and safe haven status which are all underpinned by world class amenities and infrastructure. Dubai’s transformation and development as a city over the last decade is unmatched on a regional basis and on a global basis.

Dubai has established its position as a regional hub; a juncture between East and West, with its economy centred on the growth in logistics, tourism, financial and business services – all within a luxurious lifestyle destination.

As part of the UAE’s economic diversification plan (UAE Vision 2021) Dubai has invested heavily in transport and infrastructure improvements. In the hospitality sector, the total number of hotel room keys per person is significantly higher at 29.9 per 1,000 people in Dubai, compared to the selected hub cities. Increasing demand has driven the surge in the number of hotel rooms. Dubai International Airport, the world’s largest airport by international traffic, recorded 83.7 million passengers in 2016.

The demand for healthcare services has more than matched population growth for a decade, but the number of hospital beds per person is the lowest of all the compared cities at 1.9, wit the highest being France at 6.1. Comparing Dubai in terms of number of beds there is significant potential for growth in the healthcare centre.

On healthcare Knight Frank does not use original research, but uses historic data from other sources, some of which is factual and some of which is based purely on opinion.

The amount of money, time and effort Dubai has put into promoting medical tourism is simply staggering and it would be interesting to compare the total it has cost the state against the extra income brought in. It has also spent enormous sums on building new healthcare facilities, such as Dubai Healthcare City. Dubai is probably the highest profile medical tourism destination and with the most state backing of any country in the world.