Dubai's PR Boom

The economy is booming in the Arab emirate of Dubai, and so is the public relations industry. "Someone recently remarked that anyone who could rent a space at Dubai Media City was opening a PR agency," jokes John Badenhorst, director-in-charge at Landmark PR & Events. But according to Tim Burrowes, editor of Dubai-based Campaign Middle East (a weekly newspaper for the advertising and media industries), "The major problem for the PR industry is that there are a lot of crooks and charlatans operating here – and standards are often woeful."