The sixth Dubai Social Survey conducted by the Community Development Authority (CDA) in Dubai in partnership with the Dubai Statistics Centre has revealed that more than 95 per cent of Emiratis and expatriates have a “strong preference” to live in Dubai.

The survey showed that the emirate exceeded all countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in terms of the average of population satisfaction with their lives. Dubai clocked 8.4 on a 0-to-10 rating scale as compared to Finland, which posted 7.6; Switzerland, 7.5; and the Netherlands, 7.4.

The survey noted that 98 per cent of Dubai residents trust the police stations near them. This exceeds the confidence of the population in police stations in Western Europe, which was pegged at 84 per cent; Southeast Asia 83 per cent; and America and Canada 79 per cent according to the Global Law and Order Report issued by Gallup in 2019.

The number of Emiratis who feel safe when roaming alone at night in Dubai’s residential areas increased from 89.4 per cent to 91.9 per cent. Among non-Emiratis, it increased from 96.3 per cent to 97.7 per cent between 2015 and 2019. Those who feel protected and safe in Dubai increased among non-Emiratis from 96.7 per cent to 99 per cent; and among Emiratis from 86 per cent to 97.4 per cent between 2011 and 2019.

The survey also highlighted a 25 per cent increase in the emirate’s social cohesion — increasing from 0.69 in 2011 to 0.86 in 2019 across the total population on a 0-to-1 scale.

The survey showed that 97 per cent of the population respects the rest of the emirate’s population of all backgrounds. About 94 per cent of them agree to neighbour residents from different groups, whether in terms of religion, nationality, language, people of determination, or different socio-economic classes.

The survey also shows that 91 per cent of Dubai residents are ready to establish and maintain social relations with people of determination; 88 per cent with people who do not speak their language and people from different nationalities; and 87 per cent with people from other religions.

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From July 20, in tune with European guidelines, Switzerland lifted restrictions for travellers from 21 countries, besides the European nations. India currently ranking third as the worst affected country- has been excluded.

However travellers from certain regions will be quarantined for 10 days after entering Switzerland, one of the few nations in the world which has managed to control the impact of the pandemic. They have to go into self-paid quarantine.

Besides opening the borders and gradually relaxing the rules, the country’s tourism board has initiated a ‘Clean & Safe’ campaign with tourism establishments joining to create a ‘Clean & Safe Label’ indicating they are committed to comply with the protection plans.

A total of six industry-specific labels are available for hotels, restaurants, navigation companies, cable cars, public transportation and meeting facilities.

Earlier on June 15, Switzerland had opened itself for travellers from the Schengen zone and others, and it now includes a total of nearly four-dozen big and small countries around the world, with plans to further open up gradually.

These include: Schengen Zone: Austria, Hungary, Norway, Belgium, Iceland, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Latvia, Slovakia, Estonia, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Finland, Lithuania, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Sweden, Germany, Malta, Greece, the Netherlands.

The other countries are: United Kingdom, Algeria, Andorra, Australia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Canada, Georgia, Ireland, Japan, Monaco, Morocco, New Zealand, Romania, Rwanda, San Marino, South Korea, Tunisia, Thailand, Uruguay and The Vatican.

Interestingly USA and Brazil are also excluded as those countries failed to contain the pandemic.

With a population of around 8.50 million — roughly equivalent to the number of daily commuters in Mumbai suburban trains — Switzerland has notched 34,000 Covid-19 cases, including 1,972 fatalities, as per the Worldometer dashboard.

Switzerland Tourism, a federal public corporation formed in 1994, opened its first branch in India in Mumbai (1977) followed by Delhi (2000), and has operations in 28 countries.

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