Dubai dominates the desert, reinforcing its leadership in the Digital City Index Asia

Dubai is the incontestable winner of the first Digital City Index Asia 2018, undoubtedly powered by Tourism with the dimension growing modestly at 9% compared to the top 5 performers. However, this low growth has not yet allowed competitors to surpass Dubai as they have over 3 times more searches than Singapore. It is no secret that Dubai’s strengths lie in Shopping, Luxury and Fun Tourism. Dubai is expanding its horizons with underwater hotels and the best indoor skiing in the world. Through this, the city on the edge of a desert shows its fearlessness and reinforces its digital appeal.

Despite ranking 2nd in the Talent dimension, Dubai has managed to improve its positioning from 2016 by moving up a place. Interestingly enough, the negative growth is fueled by a reduction in growth for job searches. This is a trend that can be seen across the region. This is a consequence of a decrease of interest in the blue-collar workforce and the complicated visa regulations.

Nonetheless, Dubai maintains its expertise in ‘work’. It maintains its leadership with 3 times more searches than Singapore and 6 times more than Hong Kong in ‘work’, respectively. Impacts of the ongoing oil crisis can be seen in the Investment dimension and are highlighted by a decrease in Digital Demand for Entrepreneurship and Financial & Professional Services. As oil contributes a significant portion of the revenue streams in Dubai, there has been uncertainty regarding proposed changes to their once favourable taxation rules. This can lead to an increased interest in Taxation searches (68%).

Exciting times lie ahead for Dubai. All eyes are on the playful and limitless desert city to see if the tensions within the region will impact their digital appeal in the future or if its sensational touristic attractions can stand the test of time.

The Digital City is a City that has triggered proactive interest from Global Citizens (tourists, investors and general citizens) towards that City in the Digital World. This definition was presented by Bloom Consulting in 2015 after determining through its own research and multiple other sources — including Google Intelligence — that when someone searches for information about a City in the context of Tourism, Investment and Talent, one of the primary sources used today is a “search engine”.

This act of “searching” can be triggered by something one may have read in a newspaper, heard in a conversation or simply out of curiosity. “Searches” represent the true level of interest in a City or a Place and therefore demonstrate a City’s genuine appeal. If measured, “searches” can also highlight the interests one may have with regard to any specific Country Region or City.

With this data, Cities can measure if their Actions Activities and Policies are causing any effect on their Brand appeal and on their overall perception. The Digital City Index measures the performance of the #DigitalCity

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Check it out here: www.digitalcityindex.com