The annual month-long Dubai Shopping Festival(DSF) draws shoppers from the Indian subcontinent and around the world. Attendance at the 2005 Festival topped 3.3 million visitors. Other, smaller shopping festivals, such as "Dubai Summer Surprises" are held throughout the year.

The annuThe city has many malls such as City Centre, Lamcy Plaza, Al Ghurair City, Mercato Mall, Oasis Centre and Wafi Centre that have international stores, theaters, gaming arcades, and food courts. The Oasis Centre caught fire and recived major damage on 9 September 2005. Two more shopping malls have recently opened, the Mall of Emirates, the largest mall in the world, which will soon also have the world's largest indoor ski slope, and Ibn Battuta Mall. Soon to overtake the Mall of Emirates as the world's largest will be the Dubai Mall, part of the Burj Dubai development that will be home to the tallest building in the world when completed.

The annuDubai hosts many world class sporting events, including the Dubai Tennis Open, Dubai Desert Golf Classic, and the Dubai World Cup, an annual horse racing event. The World Cup is world's highest stakes horse race, with over US $15 million worth of prize money handed out.

The annuDubai currently has two waterparks in Wonderland and Wild Wadi with more being planned for Dubailand. Dubailand, an entertainment city vaguely planned off the concept of Disneyland was launched in October 2003. Through subsequent revisions, the master planned development will span over 3 billion square feet (300,000,000 m²) with the 1st phase to be completed by 2008.

The annuA large population of prostitutes work in Dubai, spurred on by the large amount of tourism.

The annuBesides the obvious presence of prostitutes, however, Dubai also has a lively and well-known nightlife, with many state-of-the-art nightclubs and bars being strewed in all areas of the Emirate, s joined to hotels (properties not adjoined to hotels are not allowed to serve alcohol). Despite the relatively early closing time of 3am for these clubs, their trade is brisk and at any day of the week a wide variety of dressed-up characters, from middle aged English women to under-aged Indians can be spotted heading to these clubs.