Dubai's tourism department launched a program called 'Dubai Invite' on 23 July 2026. It lets people who live in the UAE nominate friends and family for travel perks worth more than 3,000 AED (about £610) each. The official page is at visitdubai.com/en/invite, run by the tourism department, and was last updated on 23 July 2026. In the first two days, more than 10,000 people applied. The program is a direct response to a sharp drop in tourism caused by the US-Israel war on Iran, which has pulled in Gulf countries and hit Dubai's airlines and hotels hard.

The war has taken a real toll on Dubai. In February 2026, Iran fired missiles and drones that hit the Fairmont hotel and Dubai's international airport. Since the conflict started, half the airlines that used to fly to Dubai have stopped or reduced service. Tourism businesses say their revenue has fallen by more than 50%. This comes after a record year in 2025, when nearly 20 million tourists visited Dubai. Adding to the pressure, the famous Burj Al Arab hotel is scheduled to close for an 18-month renovation.

Here is how the scheme works. Each UAE resident can nominate up to three visitors. Those visitors must live outside the UAE, arrive on a tourist visa, and can only be nominated once. The perks include hotel stays, dining discounts, and attraction tickets. According to the official guidelines updated on 23 July 2026, visitors must travel to Dubai between 20 July and 31 October 2026. Each resident can get a maximum of three perk packages for visitors arriving before 31 October, and the perks can be used through December.

The broader context here is a tourism economy dealing with actual war damage. Dubai's whole tourism model is built on being a safe, easy-to-reach hub for travelers. When half the airlines flying there pull out, the problem is not just fewer passengers — it also breaks the network of smaller connecting flights that bring people from less obvious routes. Think of it like a shopping mall: if half the entrances close, fewer people walk through, no matter how good the sales are inside.

A 3,000 AED perk package lowers the cost of visiting Dubai, which could encourage more bookings during a slow period. But cheaper visits cannot fix the core problem if there are simply fewer planes flying in. No matter how good the perks are, the number of people who can physically arrive stays limited until airlines return.

The 10,000 applications in two days show that residents are eager to take part. The program uses Dubai's large community of foreign residents as a way to spread the word, turning them into unofficial promoters. The timeline is tight: visitors must come before 31 October and perks expire in December, so the whole push is packed into about four months. This suggests the goal is to boost bookings right now, not to build long-term growth.

One big question is how the program interacts with the loss of luxury hotels. The Burj Al Arab, one of Dubai's most famous properties, will be closed for 18 months at a time when hotel revenues are already down more than 50%. The Dubai Invite scheme points visitors toward hotel stays, dining, and attractions, but it has not specified which hotels or businesses are actually participating. If the perk stays are mostly at mid-range hotels, the program may not help the luxury hotels that are losing the most money.

The program also reflects a bet on safety. By requiring travel between 20 July and 31 October 2026, Dubai is gambling that the security situation will calm down enough for tourists to return soon. How many people actually use the perks by December will be a signal of whether travelers feel confident again. The halved airline service and the February strikes on the airport and the Fairmont are real benchmarks for measuring whether a 3,000 AED perk can change people's minds about visiting a place near an active conflict.