It has the world's only seven-star hotel, five days of rain a year, glorious beaches, fabulous shopping, and is now the ninth most popular weekend break for Britons. Even the Beckhams are reportedly having a £1m retreat built there.

Dubai is now a "tourist-friendly" destination and a "location of luxury for the ultimate spa break or golf trip", said Scotland's Sunday Mail. And the reason is oil shortages. "Unlike some of its neighbours, Dubai is running out of oi ... Therefore, the ruler of the emirate, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, knew he must reinvent Dubai and so, in the 1990s, he launched a major investment boom," explained the Times. The result is that "tourism accounts for 17% of Dubai's gross domestic product - twice as much as the black stuff", added the Daily Telegraph.

Last year 5 million visitors, including 1.2 million Europeans, headed for the city-state. Its attraction, reckoned the Scotsman, is that Dubai "is Middle East-lite ... It is less complicated, less densely layered and, as a result, less unnerving than other destinations in the region ... There is something to be said for the surfaces of things: for the setting sun glinting on the faceted Persian Gulf; for the shimmering reds, blues and greens in the avian cacophony of the bird market in the neighbouring emirate, Sharjah."

Shopping is the main draw, said the Sunday Mail. "Dubai even hosts a month-long shopping festival from the middle of January. Electrical goods, rugs, antiques and designer clothing are all found in their own distinct areas."

Also be prepared to rub shoulders with sports fanatics. Dubai already offers the richest horse racing and golf events in the world. "Like Melbourne, in Australia, [it] is developing a sports-based economy," said the Times. Even a snow dome for skiers is being built in the desert.

"Dubai sounds like a cross between Milton Keynes and Las Vegas," concluded the Daily Telegraph. "All it needs is a concrete camel but don't tell Sheikh Mohammed ... He'll probably construct one. Dubai is building pretty much everything else."