Sorry for the one week pause. Here is Dubai trip in a nutshell.

* The Global Travel and Tourism Summit was a very interesting event, which had some great speakers on the panel. I loved the session from Dr Kjell Nordström, Associate Professor, Stockholm School of Economics. He was full of charm, very witty and very effective at the same time. He went on to say products that are ‘fit and sexy’ rule the roost in today’s world. His examples were iPod, Ikea and BMW. How true.

* Dubai can go any length to boost its image. During the summit gala dinner at ‘Fort Lisaili’, a desert camp just an hour’s drive from Jumeirah beach towards Oman border, the police provided pilot escort to the 20 buses that were transferring delegates from Madinat Jumeirah to the desert camp – escort not because there were high profile guests, but just to the beat the mad evening hour traffic of Dubai.

* The summit had 1,100 delegates from 70 countries including CEOs, media persons, ministers, and diplomats. I met the tourism minister of Botswana who in turn turned out to be an interesting person to chat. Botswana is taking up eco-tourism very seriously, and it is paying them handsomely, I learnt.

* Blackberry rules. Out of 1,100 delegates, at least 70% had blackberries with them.

* Looks like Abu Dhabi wants to take on Dubai head on the tourism front. The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority had a strong representation all through the summit, and the PR managers are doing their duties well. Like Oman, their USP is hinged around ‘culture and heritage’.

* While returning back to Muscat in the early morning Emirates flight from Dubai, I heard the airhostess commenting, “Normally we run around like chickens to serve food in this short flight.” I too think the ‘food’ throws up a challenge for all in this sector – for the crew to serve food in the stipulated time for so many people, and for the people to gobble the food in such a short span. By the way, the food (burgers, sweets) on the Emirates flight both ways were horrible.