AL AIN // Although Unesco's decision to make Al Ain a world heritage site is not yet a week old, those who work in tourism are already looking forward to a boost.
"It will really help reach a more global market," said Kasper Wigen, the marketing officer at the Hilton Al Ain hotel.
"I don't think it will have much of an impact on local or Middle Eastern market, as most don't know what Unesco is."
In the past year, the hotel has noticed a 10 per cent increase in foreign tourists, mainly from Germany.
"Abu Dhabi has been recently promoting Al Ain a lot as a spot of heaven in the middle of the desert," he said.
Visitors can go now to the Hili Archaeological Park, and get a sneak peek into life and death in the Bronze age, where tombs were built better than homes as a testament to the belief in the afterlife.
The sites at the park date to the Umm An-Nar period, considered the peak of the Bronze Age civilization, and lasted from around 2700 BC to 2000 BC. The people of that time were copper miners, farmers and merchants.
The carvings offer a rare look into the lives of the previous inhabitants. One, above the tomb's southern entrance, shows two human figure between two Arabian oryxes, capturing the close bond that once existed between man and nature - and was adapted by Al Ain's official institutes as their logo.
The essence of what made Al Ain a site of refuge for travellers for thousands of years is captured in a stroll in its oases, which are open with special passages built to allow for walking.
Besides the 100-year-old mud brick homes, the influence of the irrigation falaj system can be seen at work as it waters the tens of thousands of date palm trees.
Shams Al Dhaheri, whose family owns most of the farms at Al Jimi Oasis, cannot wait to welcome international guests.
She cried tears of joy upon learning the oases had earned the Unesco designation.
"When you come here, you will see what makes our oases heaven on Earth," she said.
Translating a popular poem about her oasis, Ms Al Dhaheri says: "With a home in Jimi oasis and another in Mutaredh oasis, you keep coming back to Jimi to walk around it in the hopes of meeting that beauty that stole your heart."
"The beauty could be a bird, a date, or even a woman. It doesn't matter, everything in Jimi is beautiful," she said.
rghazal@thenational.ae
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed