His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched today the 4th season of the “World’s Coolest Winter Campaign”, to further support the tourism sector in line with the UAE’s domestic tourism strategy launched in 2020 to promote domestic tourism.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said, “Today, the UAE launches a new season of the annual national tourism campaign, the ‘World’s Coolest Winter Campaign’. The UAE is witnessing a rising tourist flow due to its beautiful weather, natural resources, architectural treasures, cultural landmarks, and above all its kind and hospitable people.”

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid added, “The national tourism sector witnesses an annual growth. Our goal is to increase the sector’s contribution to GPD to reach 450 billion dirhams by 2031.”

The “World’s Coolest Winter Campaign” comes this year under the slogan “Unforgettable Stories”, and includes various programmes, events and activities. The campaign aims to support domestic tourism all over the UAE, in addition to attracting tourists from all over the world to enjoy the beauty of the winter season in the UAE and its touristic treasures.

Positive Results

In its third season, the campaign achieved positive results, the number of tourists reached 1.4 million, an increase of 8 percent compared to the second edition. The campaign’s content reached 190 million people all over the world, meanwhile the number of views was 159 million.

The “World’s Coolest Winter Campaign” aims to highlight the key tourism attractions in each emirate of the country, in addition to providing full support to visitors, with an agenda full of events and activities.

Tourism Results

Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Chairman of the Emirates Tourism Council, said, “The ‘World’s Coolest Winter Campaign’ contributes to the efforts made all over the country to further support the inbound and outbound tourism sectors and to achieve more accomplishments to cement the UAE position as the top tourism destination regionally and globally”.

He added, “The UAE tourism sector witnessed high performance and was able to outperforms many international tourism markets”.

The UAE tourism sector achieved promising performance, as the revenues of hotel establishments increased to AED32.2 billion from January to September 2023, a growth rate of 27 percent compared to the same period in 2022. The number of guests in hotel establishments reached 20.2 million guests during the same period, a growth of 12 percent compared to the same period in 2022. The hotel occupancy rate reached 75 percent during the first 9 months of last year, a growth rate of 6 percent compared to the same period of 2022.

Diverse Tourism Products

The UAE offers a diverse tourism product. The eco-tourism is witnessing a remarkable growth due to natural sites, oases and mountains that turn into a green paradise in the winter. The country is also famous for desert tourism, which offers visitors the opportunity to enjoy many recreational activities in the deserts, such as safari trips.

The cultural and heritage tourism sector benefits from the various historical and heritage sites and museums. The beach tourism sector is also witnessing a growing momentum.

The UAE mountains offer wide options such as climbing, hiking, and mountain biking. The adventure tourism such as diving, and skydiving is growing rapidly as well.

Shopping tourism is one of the most famous types of tourism in the UAE, the country organises continuously shopping festivals, in addition to its world-class shopping centres.