DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dubai’s leadership approved a 128 billion dirham ($35 billion) plan to build a new passenger terminal at the emirate’s Al Maktoum International Airport, which will make it five times bigger than Dubai’s main international airport in terms of size — and the biggest in the world.

“Al Maktoum International Airport will enjoy the world’s largest capacity, reaching up to 260 million passengers,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the UAE, said in a statement Sunday.

For reference, Dubai International Airport in 2023 serviced 86.9 million passengers, the second-highest in the world after Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in the U.S.

All of the operations at Dubai International Airport, currently the second-busiest in the world by passenger traffic, will be transferred to it in the coming years, the statement said, adding that the new airport will have 400 aircraft gates and five parallel runways. “New aviation technologies will be employed for the first time in the aviation sector,” it added.

The Dubai Media Office shared digital renderings of the planned airport, which showed futuristic images of expansive airport infrastructure, enormous terminals and space-age looking designs.

The airport will be in Dubai South, at the southern end of the UAE’s glitzy commercial capital, where property and logistics development is underway. An entirely new city will be built around the airport, which the Dubai ruler said will create demand for housing for a million people.

Dubai’s current primary international airport is at the northern end of the emirate, meaning a likely dramatic change in traffic patterns and transport plans for travelers once the new travel hub is in full operation.

The new city around the airport “will host the world’s leading companies in the logistics and air transport sectors,” Sheikh Maktoum said. “We are building a new project for future generations, ensuring continuous and stable development for our children and their children in turn. Dubai will be the world’s airport, its port, its urban hub, and its new global center.”

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, CEO of Dubai’s flagship Emirates Airline, posted pictures on X of himself with the Dubai ruler looking at plans for the new developments.

“Al Maktoum International will be the new home of @emirates, @flydubai, and all airline partners connecting the world to and from Dubai,” he wrote, referring to Emirates Airline and its low-cost subsidiary FlyDubai.

“We are investing to provide the best future travel experiences, best-in-world logistics capabilities, and to contribute to Dubai’s D33 economic agenda.”

Dubai’s D33 agenda aims to double the size of the city’s economy by 2033, drawing in more investment, talent and economic diversification.

The Al Maktoum International airport, which also goes by the name of Dubai World Central (DWC), is set to cover 27 square miles when completed. In addition to its projected capacity of 260 million passengers annually, it also aims to have a capacity of 12 million tons of cargo per year.

The project’s “first phase” is expected to be ready within 10 years, with a capacity to accommodate 150 million passengers annually, the Emirates CEO said.

Some pandemic-era yacht owners are headed back for dry land.

The pandemic spurred a “massive spike” in yacht sales, said Richard Allen, chief operating officer of the Hong Kong-based yachting company Simpson Marine.

“We’ve seen a lot of those people, that had their boats for two years, sort of now wanting to travel,” he told CNBC. “In the last probably few months, talking with other people in the industry, we’ve seen an increase in brokerage activity of … boats being sold.”

That was expected, said Paolo Casani, CEO of the Monaco-based yachting company Camper & Nicholsons.

“We sold, as an industry worldwide, more than the double the yachts [in 2021] than 2019,” he told CNBC. When this happens, “they go to the market starting from a couple of years later.”

Enthusiasm for yachting remains high, even if sales have fallen since 2021, said Casani.

“The industry is going back to 2019,” he said. “And we have to distinguish between brokerage and new builds, because the demand for new builds is still quite high.”

With more yachts hitting the brokerage market, prices are down, albeit slightly, from pandemic-era highs, he said.

“Prices are still quite high,” he said. “There is still a gap between the demand and the offer … but we do believe that there will be still a reduction in the course of 2024.”

Some yachts buyers in Asia aren’t selling, though, said Allen — in fact, they’re trading up for larger vessels.

“Some have actually really enjoyed the boating lifestyle, and are already upgrading … to bigger boats,” he said.

Asia — a continent of rising wealth and numerous island nations, many bathed in year-round warmth — has long been viewed as the next frontier for global yacht growth.

Casani and Allen, who spoke to CNBC on April 26 while attending the second annual Singapore Yachting Festival, agreed that the continent’s yachting market is growing.

But, Casani said, the pace is “less than expected” for many reasons, including culture, lifestyle and lack of infrastructure.

“But we still believe that Asia has a very high potential,” he said.

Allen said the disparate and onerous “rules and regulations” in the region are thwarting progress.

“We need to make it easier for boats to move around between the region,” he said. “In one country you might be able to drive a certain size boat, but then another you can’t. So those sort of things — the red tape, shall we say.”

Complex visa requirements for foreign boat crews are problematic, as are high import taxes, which can reach 40% in some markets, he said.

“We need to do a lot of lobbying with governments to make it easier to import boats,” said Allen. “There’s a lot of lobbying groups like ICOMIA … that are working much more collaboratively with the different dealers to have a voice to government.”

The International Council of Marine Industry Associations, or ICOMIA for short, hosted a two-day conference ahead of the Singapore Yachting Festival to address issues the industry faces, from sustainable propulsion to the lack of marina infrastructure in high-potential countries, such as Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.   

Simpson Marine estimates the global marine leisure market will reach an estimated $46.5 billion in 2027 — which it says will trickle down to the local economy through job creation and tourism revenue.

“The yachting industry employs thousands and thousands of people building boats, supporting boats, all the component servicing,” said Allen. “This is a … great industry for countries to embrace.”

Newer forms of ownership make yachting less expensive, which is opening the industry to more people. One model that is especially popular in Australia is fractional, or syndicated, ownership, where owners buy a share of a yacht, he said.

Others are avoiding ownership altogether, opting for flexible subscription models, which are now the norm for many forms of entertainment, from music to television.

“We’ve seen massive growth in boat clubs,” said Allen. “It’s a bit like joining a gym or a golf club. You pay a monthly membership, and you get the use of a boat so many days a week. And that’s very popular for people that don’t really want all the hassle of owning a yacht.”

It’s not easy to pick up your life and move overseas to work abroad, but it can also be very rewarding.

As someone who recently moved from the United States to Singapore, I am the first to say that while the opportunity to do so is a privilege, it also comes with its own unique set of challenges.

Being a 16-hour flight from your closest family is daunting, but having the chance to completely immerse in a new culture and having the time to focus on yourself are priceless.

“The globally mobile – individuals living and working overseas – are an increasingly important element of workforces in most markets,” according to the Cigna Healthcare Vitality Study released April 2024.

“We have also seen a growing appetite for this lifestyle, with nearly a third (30%) of people who still live in their home country saying they are likely to live overseas,” according to the study.

The study surveyed more than 10,000 people, including more than 2,600 globally mobile individuals across 12 markets: the U.S., U.K., Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, mainland China, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Globally mobile individuals tend to display a higher than average vitality score — 71.7 out of the maximum score of 100, compared to people who live in the home market — 66.7.

The vitality scores used in this study are based on The Evernorth Vitality Index, which provides a measure of “people’s capacity to pursue life with health, strength, and energy,” according to the report.

The survey asked questions to gauge respondents’ sense of physical, spiritual, emotional, environmental, social, occupational, financial and intellectual well-being.

Additionally, this group reported better mental well-being than their local counterparts (58% vs. 42% with excellent or very good mental well-being), according to the study.

“Globally mobile employees often have higher levels of vitality – a mental and physical feeling of being healthy, capable, and energetic – and a strong sense of meaning and purpose,” according to Wendy Sherry, CEO for Global Health Benefits, International Health, at Cigna Healthcare.

“The various facets of our lives – including social, occupational, and financial – are all connected,” she added.

This is apparent in how this group is 10% more likely to feel like they can build strong connections with others. Additionally, globally mobile people are more likely to be engaged, energized and enthusiastic at work compared to locals, according to the report.

Despite having more vitality, this group also experiences high levels of stress (86%) and particularly high levels of burnout (96%), compared to locals.

“On the other hand, expats may experience social isolation, which can compound emotional difficulties, aggravate stress, and increase the chances of burnout,” Sherry said.

Additionally, this group is particularly susceptible to experiencing “feelings of detachment or loneliness, self doubt, and negative outlook,” according to the study. Notably, these feelings are more pronounced in Asia, Middle East and Africa.

“In Asia, stress levels are at 89% in Singapore and 91% in Hong Kong. In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, they reach 90%, and 94% in Kenya. Conversely, in Europe, particularly in Spain and the Netherlands, stress levels are comparatively low, at 79% and 67%, respectively,” according to the study.

Here are the biggest challenges faced by those living and working abroad:

• Financial challenges (38%)
• Homesickness (23%)
• Difficulty maintaining work/life balance (18%)
• Health issues like difficulty accessing health care (18%)
• Difficulty finding housing (17%)

Expats in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong (22%) and mainland China (24%), are more prone to encounter work-related challenges. Hong Kong-based respondents (40%) also report needing more assistance in navigating local health care compared to about 28% of respondents in other regions.

So why do globally mobile individuals score higher on vitality despite reporting higher stress and burnout levels compared to local counterparts?

The study suggested it could be due, in part, to the group’s tendency to be adaptable and resilient.

“Globally mobile employees emerge as a highly valuable and resilient segment of the workforce. Despite facing unique stressors associated with their situation, they exhibit distinct skills and a high level of motivation, resulting in higher vitality,” according to the report.

Although this group tends to exhibit more resilience, the stress they face shouldn’t be overlooked.

“For foreign professionals, work can be all-encompassing, serving as a crucial support system, a source of purpose, and a center of social connections. This differs from the experience of local employees, where the boundaries between personal and professional life may be more distinct,” according to the study.

“A comprehensive approach is essential – employers must address work-life balance, facilitate social well-being, and provide support that goes beyond just physical and mental dimensions of health.”

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Venice isn’t only sinking, it’s shrinking. In the 1970s, there were about 175,000 residents in Centro Storico, the main island and historic center of Venice. As of last year, that number was below 50,000. What has been growing steadily is tourism, which due to economic and quality-of-life pressure, has been pushing out residents. In fact, there are now more tourist beds in Venice than there are residents. Last year, 20 million people visited, winding their way through its two square miles.  

Last week, Venice took action on overtourism, introducing a 5€ fee to day trippers who want to access the city. The aim, Venice’s Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said in a press conference, “is not to close the city, but not let it explode.”

The program, officially launched on April 25 — a historically significant day, as it is both Italy’s Liberation Day and the feast day of the city’s patron saint, St. Mark — took the mayor’s words in a direction he hadn’t intended, with roughly a thousand protestors gathered in Piazzale Roma to oppose the measure, ultimately clashing with police in riot gear. 

Residents voiced a range of concerns despite the measure being designed in part to help make their city more livable. They objected to the idea of living in a closed city. Some argued that selling tickets reduces their city to an amusement park — Veniceland. There’s also a central irony, critics say, in a government that at the same time is considering multiple ways to increase tourism, from weighing the idea of cruise ships returning to the lagoon to relaxation of limits on Airbnbs.

A once-in-a-lifetime destination for many travelers from around the world, the most important criticism may be that the cost is unlikely to deter anyone from visiting the city.

“Almost the entire city is against it,” Matteo Secchi, leader of a residents’ activist group, told the Guardian. “You can’t impose an entrance fee to a city; all they’re doing is transforming it into a theme park. … I mean, are we joking?” 

On the first day of its implementation, according to data from the mayor’s office, 113,000 people registered, and of those 16,000 paid the fee — others were exempt for various reasons, including hotel stays, being a commuter, a student, or visiting family or friends. 

Despite its many detractors, the day fee is a significant move on the part of Venice’s government to confront the challenge of overtourism, which has become a significant global problem since the pandemic. “This administration is the first one after 30 years of chit-chat on putting a brake to tourism growth that has actually done something,” said Antonio Paolo Russo, who was born in Venice and is a professor of urban geography at Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona, Spain.

But Russo, offering a view representative of many experts, said the measure seems likely to fall short in terms of effectiveness, and smacks of political gestures, as well as obscure profit motives. “5€ won’t make any difference with such a large demand. … the tourist destiny of the city is scripted in the way it is regulated,” he said. 

The program is in its experimental phase and has been in its planning stages since 2019. Covid and travel restrictions associated with the pandemic first paused the action, and then accelerated it once travel resumed. “Covid made us realize that what was an everyday occurrence before Covid isn’t acceptable anymore — the mentality has changed, as has the sensitivity [towards crowds],” Simone Venturini, the city councilor for tourism, told CNN in 2023. “Aware of the urgency to find a new balance between the rights of those who live, work and study in Venice, and those who visit the city, we are setting ourselves up as global frontrunners,” he said. 

Although plans initially included different fee structures — from higher fees, to sliding scales, to fees charged on more days — and the possibility of raising funds to help offset the cost of spikes in visitors, the current plan will serve only to cover the administrative costs of the program.

Venice is the first location to require a ticket to enter a city — to make the city itself the attraction — and legal challenges could still be ahead, in national or EU courts, under laws covering freedom of movement in public places. Other popular tourist destinations have similar programs, but limited to locales and attractions within a city, such as Barcelona’s Park Guell.

Charging tourists to enter popular destinations has worked around the world, but only when there is a clear indication of where the money will go, such as environmental preservation, and when the revenue is kept separate from the general government ledger. Belize’s Protected Area Conservation Trust was a pioneering movement 25 years ago which met these criteria, and programs of this type are on the rise. Bali recently introduced a tourist tax to protect the destination’s environment, nature and culture. Barcelona just increased its tourist tax, while Amsterdam recently raised its tourist tax to the highest rate in Europe. The various taxation schemes being applied to tourists are likely to continue to grow around the world. 

But Venice is Venice, and it remains singular in conversations surrounding overtourism, owing in part to its small size, its historic nature, its beauty, and, in many ways, the symbolic impact of seeing enormous cruise ships pulling up to it like Godzilla. All of which makes the stakes for the new fee greater, and the hope for its success higher. 

Experts say good data is essential to success in combating overtourism. Existing programs — such as those in the Balearic Islands or Amsterdam — collect thorough data for analysis. Russo said this makes him concerned about the Venice program, which was not been matched by published studies leading up to its implementation. “I am not aware of any kind of prior study commissioned by the city to evaluate the effects from the introduction of this system on visitation behavior. They might exist, but the academic and the local community have not been informed,” Russo said.

More taxes, more marketing, more tourists

“One of the biggest concerns is how the money is used and protected,” said Megan Epler Wood, managing director of Cornell’s Sustainable Tourism Asset Management Program. In the case of Venice, the fee won’t deter visitors, but she said that does not mean it isn’t necessary: “There is a real need for these funds,” Epler Wood said. But the majority of tourism taxes goes into tourism marketing, and the more taxes go into marketing, the more tourists come, raising more taxes to pump back into marketing, leading to more tourists still. “The longer that goes on, the harder it becomes to manage those numbers, as we’ve seen in Venice,” Epler Wood said. 

Taxation won’t necessarily help if it doesn’t specifically deal with the “invisible burden” of tourists, particularly in vulnerable locations. In Venice, Epler Wood said, that can only be done by having good data on how much each tourist “costs” in impact to the places they visit, including the pressure they put on infrastructure. This is particularly true in Venice, where the presence of cruise ships in recent years and thousands of people disembarking on the small, historic city, has made it a poster child for over-tourism.

“Managing utilities is part of the invisible burden of tourism, because no one accounts for it, and that’s the problem with Venice’s new fee. They’re guessing. They don’t know how much money they need per tourist to combat associated costs,” Epler Wood said.

Lack of initiatives systematically adopted on the demand side leads to overtourism in the high season months to a few internationally renowned cities, places and attractions, and very low demand for the rest, said Max Starkov, a hospitality and technology consultant. If the desire is to curb the number of visitors, then it comes down to applying typical supply/demand algorithms to high seasons and popular destinations via a centralized booking system, much like airlines, and theme parks, already do. 

Venice is trying to accomplish something like this with its booking system, Venturini said, from allowing the city to know ahead of time how many people to expect on particular days, to warning visitors that their selected day is particularly high traffic. “We can say, ‘Dear visitor, we don’t advise coming on this date because it’s Ferragosto [August public holiday] or Easter – there’ll be a lot of people so it will hinder you from having a peaceful visit, and if you make it a week later you can enjoy your visit more,'” he told CNN.

The access fee will, at this stage, only apply to certain days during certain periods — 30 days in total, spread across the high travel season — according to the city’s website. On those days, travelers will need to purchase access to the city, and have a QR code to access it.

The city’s statement released in May 2023 when its municipal council voted to enact the order described the objective as “to discourage daily tourism in certain periods, in line with the delicacy and uniqueness of the City.”

“Overtourism is becoming the new normal,” Starkov said. Travel, in his view, has “become figured into people’s sense of basic human needs. After you take care of your physiological needs: food, shelter, clothing, sleep, etc., next comes health, family and … travel.”

Compounded in the aftermath of the pandemic through the phenomenon known as revenge travel, the Venice day-trip fee may become an emblematic symptom of overtourism, rather than solution to it.

“Overtourism is more than simply too much tourism. It’s about a failure of government policy and an inability to regulate and shape the way tourism manifests,” said Joseph Cheer, professor of sustainable tourism at Western Sydney University, Australia, & co-chair of World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Future of Sustainable Tourism. 

The Venice fee, he said, arrived at the end of an already troubled process, rather than entering on the demand side to better control it. “Taxes and fees are a blunt instrument based on the premise tourists are price-sensitive. This is problematic when it comes to destinations like Venice that are ‘once in a lifetime’ places to visit,” Cheer said.