Opinions

International occupiers that put real estate decisions on hold in 2020 are now revaluating their real estate needs in line with updated hybrid working practices and operational requirements

The travel and tourism sector, which makes a vital contribution to the GCC economies, was badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with the opening up of the countries, mega sporting events like the Dubai Expo, Indian Premier League, Qatar's FIFA World are set to revive the sector

Fall in rents and capital values have affected the investment appetite. This has created a new wave of opportunity manifesting itself in counter-cyclical investments in the sector

Digital payments are now the primary driver of most of the organisations businesses

NFTs provide the requisite information technology tools through the blockchain framework that will provide a digital marketplace for the SME to scale and grow

Prime and Super-Prime transaction volumes continue to grow in property hotspots such as the Palm Jumeirah, as the luxury home sales increase in Dubai mirrors emerging trend seen in global cities, such as London

The presence of rich data resources has enabled businesses to segment and personalise their products and services, which has provided an opportunity for these companies to rapidly expand into new spaces of innovation. All these adjustments have had a profound impact on the structure and functioning of the workplace. As a result, this has created a need for organisations to rethink how they hire, engage, develop, reward, and lead their workforce

Modern banking partners should be offering an API service. Even for corporates whose back-office system is not digitally native, using APIs is a great way to begin competing in the digital economy

For contractual relationships, the DIFC courts provide many benefits to parties, especially as the respective laws tend to be more familiar for foreign parties

Understanding the different fundamentals driving the considerable valuation variation between these four economies is essential to developing a nuanced equities approach to the region