Ex: During the Arab Spring, Kuwait handed out $500k checks to all Kuwaiti males above 18 years old. He also told the citizenry that he would forgive all car loans - population went and bought ferraris, range rovers, etc. and got the loans all forgiven by the government.
I worry more about the Arab countries that have high populations and cannot afford to pay everyone off - Saudi is on that list.
I did find this Reuters article which mentions "In 2011, to mark three major anniversaries, ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah granted 1,000 dinars to each Kuwaiti and free food rations for 13 months."
1000 dinars ~$3200
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kuwait-parliament-debt/ku...
Do you have a reference for this? I had a look, but it's one of those things that is a bit difficult to search for.
Only Saudi Arabia beats them (barely) in the Middle East, and that's mostly from religious tourism to Mecca
It feels like a destination for the hyper-wealthy to Americans because our tourist offerings here are so much better - but not everyone can come here. My best analogy for Dubai is that it's like Vegas without the gambling - and while that may suck for some people, it can definitely be done. Vegas is also done at every price point!
I have to say, from flying across in a research airplane that was not allowed to measure (so no work for the scientific crew = lots of time to move from window to window and observe) - it is a colourful country and very beautiful from above. There is black and white, and red and yellow, and the many patterns in the sand and the mountains are interesting. I didn't know they had (extinct) volcanoes either. If I wasn't a woman I might have even considered going.
[0] https://qz.com/1684679/the-hajj-pilgrimage-to-saudi-arabias-...
You are forgetting the costs of running a city in the middle of a dessert.