WHAT A BUILD UP
Jaw-dropping pictures show how Dubai is unrecognisable just 40 years ago
It is one of the most visited cities in the world
DUBAI is a firm favourite of British holidaymakers, having undergone a dramatic transformation in just a few decades to look how it does today.
Incredible old pictures of the sunny destination show just how much it has changed in 50 years.
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The most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is famed for its skyscrapers, luxury lifestyle and the influencers who flock there in droves.
In 2024, it was the seventh most visited city in the world, with 18.2 million tourists, and was also named the number one destination in last year's Tripadvisor Travellers' Choice Awards.
But Dubai wasn't always an opulent metropolis.
In pictures from its recent past, the city looks unrecognisable as a vast expanse of desert complete with roaming camels.
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The city's beginnings can be traced back to the early 1800s when the Bani Yas tribe first settled on the shores of the Persian Gulf.
Although this first iteration of Dubai was little more than a fishing and pearl-diving village with a population of less than 800, its port became somewhat of a trading hub over the course of the next century.
However, it wasn't until Dubai struck oil in 1966 that the real change happened.
The harbour city, which had only just got its first airport in 1960, suddenly became a major player in the global oil trade, with that airport nowadays being one of the world's busiest.
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Dubai built its own World trade Centre, widened the Dubai Creek and the constructed of the longest highway in the Emirates, Sheikh Zayed Road.
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Most of Dubai's most impressive skyscrapers can be found along this road, including the iconic Burj Khalifa which was only finished in 2010.
At a staggering 830m tall, it is the tallest building not only amongst the city's 263 skyscrapers, but in the world.
Despite Dubai's built-up area having increased 170-fold since the sixties, the city's developers are showing no signs of slowing down.
An ultra-thin skyscraper called The Muraba Veil is due to be added to the elaborate skyline, while the £1bn Tiger Sky Tower claims it will break the world records for highest infinity pool and restaurant.
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All this is a far cry from the Dubai photographed in decades past.
Snaps of the Dubai Creek show modest fishing boats, and locals can be seen getting around by camel instead of Range Rover.
Almost more amazing than what appears in the pictures is what doesn't.
Also absent is Palm Jumeirah, Dubai's tree-shaped artificial archipelago of islands which these days is one of the city's most celebrated features.
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In 2021, Prime Minister of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan; a blueprint for future development focused on on sustainability and making Dubai "the best city in the world to work and live".
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While it includes plans to expand green spaces and nature reserves, its also includes objectives such as increasing land area for hotels and tourist activities by 134 per cent.
It makes you wonder what Dubai will look like when pictured in another sixty years.
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