On the other hand, the price of buying things of indeterminate value (such as hospitality) is always more to do with the purchasing power of the target market, not the underlying costs.

Given that it is expected that UAE residents have a lot more purchasing power than visitors because, let's face it, there is no income tax - and many expats have accommodation and living costs paid for (or salary is adjusted upwards to compensate), it's obvious prices for residents will increase to match their audience.

To avoid not cutting yourself off from the rest of the market you introduce artificial segmentation - such as sales of packages to visitors.

Those who earn much less, like the imported service staff will find more reasonable pricing for the things they buy matching their incomes: e.g. they will be flying Flydubai, not EK.