Dubai for Visitors

As per UAE labour law, for every year of service, an employee, whose service exceeds one year, is entitled to 30 days of annual leave. At the end of the service, the employee is entitled to annual leave for the fraction of the last year he spent in service.

An employee shall be paid leave salary equal to his basic wage plus the housing allowance, if applicable, during the annual leave. If work circumstances required keeping the employee during all or part of his annual leave and the leave has not been carried over to the following year, then employer shall pay him his wage in addition to a leave allowance for the days he worked equal to his basic wage. In all cases, no employee shall be required to work during his annual leaves more than once during two consecutive years. According to the law, before taking the annual leave, the employee shall be paid his full wage, plus the wage for the leave days he is entitled to. Therefore in your case, if your employer fails to pay your leave salary for four years, then you are entitled to claim only two years leave salary as per the law as you will lose all your entitlements, except gratuity, after a period of one year of your entitlement.

With just a fortnight to go, the mother of all shopping festivals - the Dubai Shopping Festival 2009 (DSF) - is coming back to town.

Scheduled to begin on January 15, the 14th edition of the DSF is set to open at a time of global financial turmoil, but the organisers say DSF 2009 will deliver.

Dubai looks her best during the DSF when every nook and corner of the city is lit up with over a million lights and colourful decorations.

Over 3.2 million people visited DSF 2008 with the expenditure touching Dh10 billion.

The participating retail outlets of the DSF and the various shopping malls are expecting a windfall. With the December sale already in session at the various retail outlets across the city, products are being sold at discounts of over 70 per cent.

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The global economic crunch is affecting the travel industry to some degree, but international airlines are still experiencing a positive growth in their bookings throughout this winter season, albeit not as high as in the past year.

Passengers who may have decided to go on holidays to their favourite destinations can still go for late bookings. In previous years, travelers had to book months ahead of their travel dates.

This year, many holiday goers have foregone Christmas vacations. Jane Kimberly, a British expatriate residing in Dubai said, “Last Christmas, I visited my brother in Hong Kong and the Christmas before that I made a trip to Beijing. But this year, I’ve decided to stay here in Dubai and spend time with my friends and family. Many of my friends, who have already left for home, had made travel plans a few months ago and paid for it when the ticket prices weren’t that expensive.”

John Brighton, another British expatriate, agreed saying that most expatriates had already left town sticking to their travel plans because they were made in advance. “But I guess by next year, there will be a visible reduction in both tourism and aviation industry.”

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Emirati women and families will have an opportunity to sell traditional handicrafts at the Global Village. Maryam Mohamed Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of Social Affairs, opened the Forsaty Pavilion, where 22 stalls will sell items made by local entrepreneurs.

“This is the first time that the Social Affairs Ministry has organised a pavilion in Global Village and the decision was consciously made given the popularity of the venue and the number of people it attracts,” Al Roumi said. “Forsaty Pavilion was designed to provide Emirati woman a platform to showcase their entrepreneurial skills and help transform those skills in a meaningful way through the assistance offered by government departments under the supervision of the Social Affairs Ministry.” Forsaty will sell traditional dresses, abayas, art works, bodycare products, perfumes and local cuisine.

The first six of 25 tourist information kiosks have been opened in Abu Dhabi, after a delay of more than a year.

Developed by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) and offering information about tourist attractions and facilities, the kiosks are placed at the Marina Mall, Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, the ADTA headquarters and the Abu Dhabi Duty Free in the capital, as well as at Al Ain Museum and on Sir Bani Yas Island.

“The kiosks are an A to Z of essential information, in Eng- lish and Arabic, on attractions and events,” explained Saeed Al Dhaheri, ADTA’s acting visitor informa- tion manager.

By the end of next year, ADTA plans to have all kiosks operating in five languages, with French, German and Russian being added to English and Arabic.