Tourist attractions in Dubai, now described as a 'ghost town', are desperately offering free admissions to attract customers during ongoing drone and missile attacks from Iran. These unusual promotions include 'camel hugging therapy' and complimentary tickets to major water parks and luxury pools.
Camel Hugging Therapy and Other Free Offers
The Camel Farm, located in the Al Marmoom Conservation Reserve dunes about thirty minutes outside Dubai, is inviting visitors to 'release your stress with a private encounter with our cuddliest animals'. This experience, which normally costs approximately six pounds, is now being offered for free. Italian owner Luca Lombardi announced on Instagram: 'We have a gift for you. In this stressful time it's easy to be affected by fear, anxiety and depression and we firmly believe relaxation is a fundamental right.'
Major Attractions Join the Free Ticket Initiative
Other significant venues are also distributing free tickets. Aquaventure World, a massive water park and aquarium where day tickets typically range from forty to sixty-seven pounds, is offering up to four complimentary tickets per booking. Dubai Miracle Garden, with usual ticket prices starting around eighteen pounds, is providing free entry to residents.
House of Hype, an immersive technology-driven attraction, is granting free entry to the first fifty daily visitors wearing the colours of the UAE flag, instead of the standard thirty-pound fee. Additionally, the Aura Skypool, recognised as the world's highest three-hundred-and-sixty-degree infinity pool on the fiftieth floor of the Palm Tower, is distributing five hundred complimentary tickets, normally priced at forty pounds each. Several beach clubs are also waiving entry fees in an effort to entice visitors inside.
Dubai Deserted as Attacks Continue
These offers emerge as Dubai has been largely deserted by tourists and thousands of expatriates, with sun loungers and pools lying empty while Iran continues to pound the United Arab Emirates. Once celebrated as a tax-free haven attracting social media influencers and numerous British citizens seeking warm weather and safe streets, Dubai's meticulously crafted image has been severely damaged. Some residents now believe the city is 'finished'.
Thousands have fled the conflict-affected city, with many vowing never to return as the Islamic Republic launches barrages of missiles and suicide drones at glitzy skyscrapers and luxurious five-star hotels, including a strike on the world-famous Fairmont Hotel on Palm Jumeirah. Jumeirah Beach, a favourite spot among Dubai's two hundred and forty thousand British residents, usually overflowing with holidaymakers, was virtually empty. Reports indicate some facilities are closing due to a lack of visitors, with beach bars, sun loungers, swimming pools, and the sandy coastline all largely deserted.
Influencers' Controversial Responses
However, loyal Dubai influencers remaining in the state have criticised Britons who fled the bombing, labelling them 'ungrateful' and stating these 'are the types of people we don't mind leaving'. Some influencers even claimed they are profiting from the Middle East war, amid allegations that certain UAE-based influencers are being paid to disseminate 'propaganda'.
Influencer Mitchell Armstrong took to TikTok, asserting that those who stayed in Dubai have 'either profited off the war or made more money' because they 'were more locked in'. Armstrong maintained that 'nothing has changed for him', continuing his daily routine of using the sauna and steam room while enjoying his two-point-one-million-dollar apartment. He mocked those who fled, saying: 'Like nothing has changed for me. While you guys were all running around acting like brokies, "oh my god, there's bombs, oh my god, let's get out of Dubai".'
Armstrong added, 'All the rich guys, all the guys making money, printing bread either profited off the war or made more money because we are more locked in.' He later claimed that 'all the guys that fled are trying to come back to Dubai', with messages from friends considering returning. Laughing, he plunged his head into a pool and repeated: 'Why did you leave then? Why did you leave?'
Government Figures and Arrests
According to Government figures, more than sixty-three thousand Britons have returned home from the region since the conflict began in the Middle East. Meanwhile, police in Abu Dhabi have arrested forty-five individuals of 'various nationalities' for 'spreading misinformation and filming and sharing event locations' over alleged footage showing attacks. This includes a sixty-year-old Londoner arrested this week after filming missiles hitting Dubai.
The UAE's Ministry of Defence reported that, as of yesterday, two hundred and eighty-five ballistic missiles, fifteen cruise missiles, and one thousand five hundred and sixty-seven drones from Iran have been intercepted.
