Our series “
Influencers in Dubai
” in five episodes
:
Nabilla, Jazz, Hillary… "they sell dreams in a dream setting"
"Now we are all here"
The birth of a cash machine
Dubai had it all planned
The "French bad" crispe locals and expatriates
Tuesday January 5, 2021, tweeters wake up.
This morning on the blue bird social network, we are talking about vaccination, back to school ... and Dubai.
The city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) made the buzz overnight.
But it is the French who are the center of attention.
Reality TV influencers.
A few hours earlier, Jazz and Laurent Correia, characters from the “JLC family”, a program broadcast on TFX, were at the heart of a tussle with French tourists in a nightclub.
Videos of the incident flood the social network.
They are confused.
We see a stampede, we talk about a fight.
Difficult to understand what really happened.
“Dubai has become Châtelet”, laughs a surfer.
Jazz responds the next day in a story posted on his Snapchat account.
She tries to calm things down, assures us that it is "not the drama of the century".
But the damage is done.
The hunt for places photographed by influencers
“I've lived in Dubai for seven years and I've never seen a single fight anywhere,” breathes Fouad, a 29-year-old French financial engineer.
For the French expatriate community, the cup is full.
Arrival of influencers cringe in quiet UAE showcase
“Since they are here, they have tarnished the image of the city, laments Fouad.
Expats compare it a bit to Phuket.
The city of Thailand has become in recent years the landmark of young suburbanites, attracted by the festive atmosphere.
Longer-time French residents refuse to let the same happen in Dubai.
As soon as you ask an expat 'on the matter, he rolls his eyes.
“The problem is not necessarily the influencers, but the people they have attracted,” says Fouad.
The arrival of influencers makes people cringe in the quiet showcase of UAE LP / Fred Dugit
Dubai's popularity exploded a year ago.
It was at this time that the small world of reality TV was exported to the Middle East.
Fouad was quickly inundated with messages from friends wanting to know the places where social media starlets spent their days.
“I was sent screenshots of restaurants, beach clubs… People wanted to go there too,” says the young man.
I received so much that I ended up asking my wife what was going on.
I didn't know all of these people and I was surprised how influential they could be.
"
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Same observation on the Facebook group “Dubai tourism” where 35,000 French people exchange tips on the city.
“Sometimes our members ask us where are certain places they have seen in stories: a private zoo, a roof top, a place in the desert… lists Nabil, at the origin of the group.
We sometimes warn tourists that the prices of some of these activities are not suitable for all portfolios.
"
New tourists are flocking
The flashy image of Dubai conveyed by influencers is annoying.
“It's always a bit cliché.
Everything they show is very bling-bling, whereas most of the people who live here do not have the same life, ”blows a young expatriate.
“They only show one side of the city, but it is much more complex than that”, tackles the one who is still surprised to meet “Russians in mini-shorts as well as women in burqas”.
The phenomenon takes on a disproportionate scale at the end of 2020. Deprived of travel because of the Covid-19 crisis, a large number of tourists fall back on Dubai, its good weather and its open restaurants.
Europe comes to take pictures on the sandy beaches.
“It was impossible to reserve a table in a restaurant or a room in a hotel.
Everything was full, ”Fouad remembers.
Bands of young French people, fascinated by the stories of their favorite influencers, also buy their plane tickets.
The atmosphere changes.
“These new tourists did not necessarily respect the rules of social distancing, did not wear the mask, notes Amel Talks, French YouTuber living in Dubai for four years.
It made a lot of noise.
"
For many expats, influencers show only one side of the city, too bling-bling.
LP / Fred Dugit
Incidents are on the increase.
Two French people are arrested for theft of money and taken into police custody.
“A girl had her topless photo taken in the desert and posted the snapshot on the networks.
It shocked a lot here, it's still a Muslim country, ”regrets Fouad.
Several fights break out, one in front of a hotel, another in a nightclub.
French people are involved every time.
Unheard of in Dubai, whose regulars know they risk heavy penalties if they break the rules.
The locals are shocked by these behaviors, to which they quickly find a nickname: the “French bad”.
The tension is growing.
“Luxury car rental companies no longer supported French tourists.
There were clashes, Fouad remembers.
The
beach clubs
either did not want to hear about it.
"
Arrests and tight surveillance
The problem is reaching government ears.
"Dubai intelligence posted agents in front of the nightclub where there were fights to monitor French tourists the following days," said Nabil, administrator of the Facebook group "Dubai tourism".
The vast majority of people involved in the fights are arrested thanks to CCTV images.
In the emirate, the streets are full of cameras.
It is rare to come across a policeman in a suit or even a screen-printed car.
“They are often in civilian clothes,” says Amel Talks.
“Whenever there is a problem, the guys are caught thanks to investigative work in the days that follow and there is no outcry,” says Nabil.
They do it discreetly.
"
The repeated arrests calm things down. The Covid-19 crisis too.
The massive tourism of the 2020 end-of-year celebrations explodes the local contamination rate.
The government is taking urgent restrictive measures at the end of January.
Night clubs and bars are closed.
Restaurants are forced to turn down the volume of the music to deter patrons from dancing.
Strangely, the atmosphere remains intact in the stories of influencers.
“Far from reality…” regrets a French civil servant working on the spot.
Because the party is over on the shores of the Arab-Persian Gulf.
When we visited in early February, the clubs were empty, the restaurants respected the safety distances and the streets had regained their calm.
Repeated arrests and the closure of bars and restaurants due to Covid-19 have ended the incidents in Dubai.
LP / Fred Dugit
The tricolor exodus to Dubai is not yet over.
If the influx of tourists has dried up, more and more of them want to join the 25,000 French people living on the spot identified by the consulate.
The city in the middle of the desert, glorified by influencers, has become an Eldorado.
There is an increasing number of requests for advice on expatriation on Facebook.
Attracted by the mirage of easy success, many leave without a plan or professional background.
The flower with the gun.
“I wish I went to Dubai.
Please help me find a job in all fields (sic) ”, wrote, in mid-February, on a group of expatriates an Internet user with approximate spelling.
Without knowing that the Dubai economy has also suffered from the Covid-19 crisis.
The job market in the Gulf countries could shrink by around 13%, with 900,000 jobs cut in the Emirates, according to a report from Oxford Economics.
“Since reality TV has settled here [...], this group has become a kind of
giant
employment center
, pleaded, at the beginning of February, a member of the Facebook group
Les Nouveaux aventuriers - Dubaï
.
It was funny the first few months;
it has become heavy… ”Especially in the eyes of the veterans, who have dearly won their place in the sun.