Dubai’s tourism chief has urged the world to follow only trusted media outlets and insisted the emirate remains safe and open for business – while the state has made sharing footage of attacks on UAE soil a criminal offence, with at least 35 people arrested for doing so.
In an official video shared to Instagram, Kazim said: “While news cycles can sometimes amplify scenarios and uncertainty, we felt it was important for us to share the situation from us on the ground.”
“Dubai is safe and stable,” he added.
Rather than shutting down, Dubai is scaling back up, he said.
“While there have been some flight cancellations, operations are scaling back up – spearheaded by Emirates and flydubai. We’re confident in a sound and full recovery,” he said, adding that hotels, restaurants, retail and transportation are fully operational.
“Our historic model of openness has shaped our resilience,” Kazim said. “And will continue to attract first-time and repeat visitors from around the world.”
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Kazim is not the first to push back on what some have described as overblown media coverage of the situation in Dubai.
Real estate influencer Sarina Kalantari took to social media in the days following the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East with a video of herself pretending to be on the phone to someone outside the UAE.
“What do you mean what do I see when I look up? I see Burj Khalifa and fantastic weather,” she says jokingly in the clip.
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Dubai is one of the most-visited cities in the world, welcoming 19.59 million international visitors last year.
According to the BBC, tourism providers in the region have been hit hard, with some restaurant and bar owners seeing their revenue drop by 70-80 per cent since the outbreak of the war between Iran and the US.
“The current situation is brutal,” one business-owner said. “I had a choice – either fire 30 per cent of my staff or cut salaries to save jobs. I chose the latter for now.”
Since the outbreak of the conflict UAE air defences have engaged a total of 537 ballistic missiles, 26 cruise missiles and more than 2200 drones. The UAE has become a key target for Iran with the ABC stating that Iran has fired more missiles at the Emirates than it has on Israel.
The UAE claims it has intercepted around 90 per cent of attacks. Targets include airports, tourist attractions and the US consulate. The UAE has been keen to keep images and footages of the attacks under wraps, with 35 people of various nationalities arrested in March for sharing footage of Iranian attacks in the UAE.
Attorney General Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said the recordings can incite panic and create “a false impression of the country’s actual situation.” The state has also claimed that posting creates a defence threat.
Under UAE law, sharing clips of the attacks – be it on social media or forwarding content on messenger – can include penalties ranging from two years in prison, large fine or deportation for foreign nationals.
