Promoting the wrong event: Atlantis Opening vs Special Olympics

How crazy is this world? Have we all lost our minds? Dubai, a city and emirate indebted to pretty much everyone around and especially its neighbors here in Abu Dhabi, has seen its stock exchange loose 30 billion US dollars last week while some of the biggest real estate related companies have fired hundreds of people lately and cancelled about 45 projects just two weeks ago. But hey, this is Dubai and parties, celebrations, shows and especially doing the “biggest, bestest, most expensive” stuff is a must.

Thus, they have decided to throw the most extravagant party ever, to celebrate the opening of a “7 star hotel”. I certainly have a few things to say about it, and I will restrain from commenting about that ridiculous amount of stars… just because I don’t have the energy to complain about it all…

The grand opening of the Atlantis hotel has cost an enormous amount of money –somewhere between $20 million and $35 million dollars, yes, US dollars ladies and gentlemen. The celebration included what was supposed to be the most amazing firework-show ever, several times bigger and longer than the one prepared by the Chinese for the opening of the Olympics. The organizers claim, and I really doubt it, that the show was seen from space. More than a million fireworks were launched in nine minutes, for a cost of … $14 million!

To give you an idea, about 2000 people, I mean VIPs and stars, were invited to the celebration, and none of them was an employee of Kerzner International (owner of the hotel, in partnership with Nakheel, aka the Dubai Government). Apparently “Kerzner personally goes over the guest list with a fine-tooth comb vetting the guests and nothing is left to chance. Only those who serve a purpose are invited, even senior managers in his company are only allowed to come to the party if they make themselves useful by serving food and drinks.” Unbelievable!

Those fortunate guests, who obviously don’t give a crap about the crisis or the starving people around the world… sorry… I mean they don’t see their lives affected by the world financial crisis… were treated to a banquet prepared by several Michelin-rated chefs, only after they had gone through three security checkpoints in their vehicles and another on foot. In case they got too tired or thirsty from it, plenty of champagne was waiting for them, apparently Mr Kerzner had tried to buy the entire world stock of £500-a-bottle Cristal champagne for the launch – but he was turned down because “the mass order would send world champagne prices skyrocketing”.

I am happy to say that Ben Affleck didn’t attend and instead flew to visit refugee camps in Congo – I am not into gossip, but I thought this one was worth being mentioned.

Mr Kezner recently compared the Olympic Games to this party, as they both promote cities, countries or territories. “You can ask why for the Olympics do people spend what they spend and do what they do. It’s there to promote the host country. And I think the scale of this is such that the opening, which will cost about $20 million relative to our investment of $1.5 billion... put in that context hopefully will give us huge coverage throughout the world. Atlantis represents so much of what has happened in this area.”

Bla bla bla Mr Kezner… allow me to say that this is a stupid and unfair comparison. Spending over $20 millions is to me a sin. Moreover, it should be illegal if we take into account that you have just fired 800 employees from your Atlantis resort in Bahamas. Rumor is next will be Dubai employees…. However, it is true you attracted a lot of attention to your hotel, but let me remind you that common people are affected by the crisis and I certainly hope they don’t come to your hotel.

I just wish some other events did attract as much attention and media coverage as yours. A great example is just next door, in Abu Dhabi, where just a week ago the 6^th MENA Special Olympics kicked off, and they have lasted for a whole week during which over 1,500 athletes representing 23 countries from the entire MENA region have competed in 12 games. This was the biggest and the largest event in the history of the regional games, since their first edition in Cairo in 1999.

It is sad to say that these games are difficult to hold because of a huge lack of sponsorships from the private sector. However, good news is the Government of Abu Dhabi decided to not let these kids and teenagers down, and itself sponsored the whole event. Airplane tickets, accommodation, food, transportation inside the country, tours and other expenses were taken care by the Government.

Some of these kids were staying in my hotel, and they were noisy, it is true, and they probably made a mess of their rooms also. I know they painted walls and destroyed carpets, but if you had seen their happiness in their eyes you would understand. I had the chance to share the lift with many of them several times over the last week, and when they unzipped their jackets to show me their medals, god how proud I felt of this Emirate. I had tears in my eyes, just like they did.

Unfortunately no one has heard about this event, because people would rather hear about parties, champagne, fireworks and celebrities, than about the Special Olympics. Such is life.