World’s Coolest Winter campaign nets Dhs12.5b from hotel guests

The sixth edition of the World’s Coolest Winter campaign delivered positive results across all seven emirates. Hotel revenues reached Dhs 12.5 billion, while the total number of hotel guests surpassed 5 million, up 5% compared to the previous edition. Hotel occupancy rates reached 84%, representing a 2% increase compared to the same period last year.

This was stated by Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Tourism on Monday.

The Ministry of Economy and Tourism announced the conclusion of the sixth edition of the World’s Coolest Winter campaign, which launched on 16 December and ran for six weeks under the slogan “Our Winter is Entrepreneurial.” The campaign was implemented through collaboration between the Ministry and tourism authorities across the UAE’s emirates, as part of the UAE Strategy for Domestic Tourism launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, aimed at developing an integrated, nationwide tourism ecosystem.

The campaign successfully achieved its core objectives of highlighting the UAE’s tourism attractions, including islands, beaches and nature reserves, as well as natural, urban, heritage and cultural landmarks.

It also spotlighted tourism experiences led by entrepreneurs and startups, presenting their success stories and their pivotal role in delivering innovative tourism offerings. The campaign underscored the growing contribution of entrepreneurship to enriching the UAE’s tourism experience, while supporting entrepreneurs and enhancing the visibility of their products and services within winter destinations and activities.

Bin Touq said that the latest success of the World’s Coolest Winter campaign in its sixth edition serves as a strong indicator of the promising investment opportunities within the UAE’s tourism sector, a key pillar of the nation’s vision to build a strong and sustainable economy.

He noted that the campaign continues to reinforce the UAE’s position as a cohesive tourism destination, adding that fostering coordination and integration among the tourism entities of the seven emirates, helps enhance the UAE’s tourism appeal, and increase the sector’s contribution to national GDP in line with the objectives of the We the UAE 2031 vision.

He added that the campaign’s success reflects growing confidence in the quality and competitiveness of the UAE’s domestic tourism product and its ability to attract diverse audiences from around the world, further strengthening the sector’s unique advantages and its capacity for global leadership as a year-round destination.

The campaign, under the theme Our Winter is Entrepreneurial, demonstrated that the tourism sector has made remarkable progress in adopting innovative models centered on empowering Emirati entrepreneurs and startups to become the sector’s primary growth engines, he added.

Bin Touq Al Marri affirmed the Ministry’s commitment to sustaining this entrepreneurial approach by fostering an enabling environment that allows youth to transform ideas into world- Press Release 3 | Page class tourism experiences, ensuring sustainable sector growth and positioning innovation and entrepreneurship as defining features of the UAE’s future tourism identity.

He added that the campaign achieved more than 300 million views worldwide, with a reach exceeding 1.5 billion people. The campaign has shown increased reliance on content creators, with 53 local and international creators collaborating on the campaign.

Engagement with campaign-produced videos exceeded 1.8 million interactions, creating strong momentum for deeper integration and closer cooperation among tourism authorities, and reinforcing a unified, team-based approach to developing exceptional experiences and projects that enhance the richness of the national tourism sector and the distinctiveness of destinations across each emirate, thereby cementing the UAE’s position as a leading global tourism destination.

Boosting innovative tourism products Beyond stimulating domestic tourism in captivating destinations across the UAE’s emirates and cities, the sixth edition of the World’s Coolest Winter campaign aimed to spotlight tourism initiatives, experiences, and products led by entrepreneurs and startups. It also sought to strengthen the presence of innovative, entrepreneurship-driven tourism products among the most sought-after winter destinations and activities, while empowering tourism entrepreneurs to unlock opportunities for excellence, growth, expansion, and access to a broad audience of visitors and tourists.

The campaign also aimed to encourage investment in domestic tourism projects which serve as a major catalyst for maximising the sector’s positive economic impact. It focused on promoting the diversity and promising potential of green tourism across the UAE, while highlighting the competitiveness and appeal of natural, environmental, and agricultural destinations, supporting domestic tourism among citizens and residents and driving sustained growth in international visitor arrivals.

Through extensive media and marketing content disseminated across traditional media and social platforms, the campaign reached millions of people in the UAE and worldwide, promoting innovative tourism offerings, pioneering and non-conventional projects, and the UAE’s vast diversity of environments, features, and unique tourism activities.