Hi Dubai friends,

Welcome to Week 13, Edition 126

Due to the ongoing situation in Dubai regarding Iran and the FCDO advising against non-essential travel to the UAE, these weekly editions will shift focus a tad.

Whilst the situation remains uncertain from a tourist and travel perspective, the editions will feature more ‘advice’ than ‘news’ to help better inform any travel decisions you may need to make.

Whilst you can’t beat your own objective research and news from trusted sources, here are some links and tips about Dubai that I hope you find helpful.

Please do check back past editions and Eat Drink Stay Dubai as there’s a lot of information, advice and links that will help (or save me repeating them here!)

PS. You can always email me here also.

Please note: some links in this newsletter may be affiliate links, and will be denoted with an asterisk (*). This is a link to a partner site that may pay me a commission - at no further cost to you - and if so, helps to support me & this newsletter. For more info, please see Disclosure and Policies

With everything unfolding in the region right now, I know you may have questions or concerns about upcoming trips to Dubai.
Whether you’re due to travel soon, mid-planning, or just keeping an eye on things — my inbox is open.

Flight connections, hotel bookings, safety questions, whether your itinerary still makes sense — drop me a message and I’ll do my best to help. If I can save you an hour of anxious Googling with a quick reply, that’s what this newsletter is for.

A quick note on capacity: straightforward questions I’m happy to answer at no charge. Anything more in-depth - a full itinerary review, booking/agent situations, detailed planning support - we can arrange a short one-to-one consultation separately.

Either way, don’t sit on a worry you didn’t need to have.

👉 Hit reply or click here to email me - I read every message.

Dubai Media Office issued a video this week urging tourists and residents to “sidestep rumours, focus on facts” - which is sound advice in general, not just related to Dubai 😄.

As if Dubai and the UAE didn’t have enough to contend with, the storms hit town again, including the Burj Khalifa being hit by lightning and an amber weather warning being issued.

Here’s how the FloodWall barriers at vulnerable Metro stations prevent against heavy rain, following the record floods of 2024.

According to recent estimates from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WWTC), the Middle East tourism sector could be losing up to $800 million per day of the conflict.

It’s estimated up 250,000 tourists and 25,000 transit passengers were affected by the disruption in flights, and load factor is comparatively low on flights into Dubai.

Accommodation occupancy (hotel and short-term rentals) in Dubai dropped to around 16% mid-March, according to The Financial Times, which reports prices dropped more than 11% for April and May. (Archived page here).

Hotels such as Hilton Dubai Jumeirah and Marriott Hotel Al Jaddaf are reporting a 40% decline in bookings from international tourists.

Dubai Parks and Resorts has temporarily closed, as has Ain Dubai.

In better news, Primark has opened its first UAE store in The Dubai Mall, with 10,000 shoppers visiting on the first day.

These farewell gifts for passengers departing DXB airport are a lovely touch, aren’t they?

How the UAE built its formidable advanced air defence system over forty years.

If you have flights booked, even nowhere near the Middle East, you could still be affected.

Airlines that don’t even fly to the Middle East are also amending their schedules, and this includes short-haul European flights. Easyjet for instance, are cancelling some ex-UK flights well in advance to destinations such as the Algarve.

The reasons may be multiple, but economics is likely to be uppermost. Why fly three flights a day with smaller ‘load factors’ when you can maximise efficiency by cancelling one flight? Also, because EU consumer protections are strong, it can be in the airline’s favour to proactively cancel flights as their obligations increase if they cancel with short notice, e.g. within 14 days.

Tip - if you do have flights booked, it’s well worth checking the current status of the same flight numbers, to see which flights are actually flying currently and which may not be. If you have booked via a third party or agent, they may not be as proactive in communication of flight updates, so it could be worth doing your own research.

Emphasising the importance of only checking objective, trusted sources, Air Canada’s official website is still saying flights from Montreal to Dubai (DXB) and Tel Aviv (TLV) remain suspended.

I’m mentioning this because some ‘reports’ (albeit non-official sources) suggesting they have been trialing flights to Dubai via safe corridors, but I’d still recommend the ‘holy trinity’ of trusted flight information and advice being :-

Of course, it’s a ‘fast moving and fluid’ situation and some third party sites or social media accounts may push to be first to publish news, and indeed may prove to be correct. Sometimes.

Similarly, there’s a mention here about Emirates status extensions, though no links to official sources although quotes from Nejib Ben Khedher, Head of Emirates Skywards.

Talking of trusted sources, I’ve mentioned previously about following/reading Simon Calder and here are some of his recent articles.

Airline bosses comment on if the ME conflict may affect flight prices

How Qatar Airways are once again storing planes at Teruel airport in Spain, amidst continued disruptions.

Eleven questions & answers that may be useful to travellers, including transit through an “all but essential travel destination”.

How Paris is benefitting from the Middle East disruption, to be the “new gateway to Australia for British travellers”.

How a prolonged Middle East conflict could “reshape how we fly”, according to the BBC.

Emirates improves its Emirates Pets transport service under Emirates SkyCargo, including a 24/7 Dubai-based specialist pet travel team.

🔗 Emirates SkyCargo: Pets
🔗 Emirates: Travelling with pets

The current My Emirates (Winter) Pass is valid until 31 March.

In recent years, Emirates started the next Pass almost immediately after the previous one expired, so it’s going to be interesting to see if what they do now with the current disruptions and reductions in inbound travellers.

If it’s anything like post-pandemic, I would not be surprised if they launched a new one because it’s all part of the wider strategy to boost tourism and travel, but it may not be as immediate as in previous years.

Even if My Emirates Pass doesn’t continue immediately after March, there’s always ENTERTAINER - and here’s how to use the promo code to get a 10% discount on any product.

If you happen to be in Dubai at present, there are a lot of deals and promotions around to help boost business.

Although many of the staycations and incentives are aimed at residents, tourists and visitors can still benefit.

For example :-

Do check with venues about operations and hours, as things can change quickly. Social media can helpful as that’s where some venues will update first if there are changes, and also, many venues are on a ‘push’ to promote they are open.