The story of Dubai is like a happy ever-after Hollywood mega movie. From a struggling fishing village to a thriving pearling community, then decimated by the demise of the natural pearl in the 1920s, rebuilt by the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al- Maktoum, a desert leader with incredible vision. He laid the foundations for the emirate becoming the commercial centre of the Gulf, initially by dredging the Creek and encouraging a free market economy. He even introduced Open Skies when he persuaded the first airline to serve Dubai.