DCT Abu Dhabi has established Visitor Experience Guidelines that apply to 11 key tourism touchpoints, aiming to standardize service quality for operators throughout the emirate. The Department of Culture and Tourism released these rules on September 18, 2026, and they apply to sectors ranging from airports and malls to cultural venues and visitor services.
Guidelines Cover 11 Areas of Visitor Journey
The Department of Culture and Tourism created these standards in collaboration with both public and private entities. Prior to the operators receiving the requirements, the Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council validated them to ensure they met the emirate’s quality benchmarks.
These 11 key areas include cultural sites, museums, mobility, attractions, hospitality, tour guides, tour operators, visitor information services, events, cruise terminals, airports and malls. Operators are required to utilize a unified service reference across every touchpoint, with the guidelines defining expectations for frontline staff, visitor information and operational uniformity.
Saleh Mohamed Al Geziry, the Director General for Tourism at DCT Abu Dhabi, characterized the new rules as a move toward more consistent and engaging visitor experiences. He stated, “The VX Guidelines mark a significant step forward in how we deliver consistent and compelling visitor journeys across Abu Dhabi.”
Compliance Checks Support Sector-Wide Rollout
DCT Abu Dhabi is currently coordinating with various tourism and culture stakeholders to implement the program. As the initiative expands across the emirate, audits and compliance checks will be utilized to verify adoption.
The Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council ensured the guidelines align with the emirate’s broader quality requirements. Fahad Ghareeb Al Shamsi, the Acting Secretary General of the council, connected these standards to improved service consistency and the enhancement of frontline capabilities. Coordination between the public and private sectors is a key component of this rollout.
The guidelines were released alongside several other visitor service initiatives in 2026. The Visitor Experience Awards began in August, inviting over 400 tourism and cultural organizations to participate. There are eight award categories covering businesses and frontline teams, with 24 winners scheduled to be announced later in the year.
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The Visitor Experience Awards function alongside the guidelines and the VX Academy as part of DCT Abu Dhabi’s broader visitor service strategy. As visitor numbers rise, service interactions at airports, hotels, attractions, transport links and cultural assets become more frequent.
Visitor Growth Drives Service Requirements
According to DCT Abu Dhabi, the emirate recorded a record 26.6 million visitors in 2025. Hotel properties accommodated 5.9 million guests, a 2.2 percent increase year-over-year, while international guests in key markets saw a 10 percent rise.
During 2025, hotel occupancy hit 81 percent, a three-percentage-point increase from the previous year. Revenue for the sector grew 19.5 percent to roughly $2.5 billion (AED 9.1 billion), driven by a 19 percent increase in average daily rate and a 23 percent rise in revenue per available room.
Business tourism also saw substantial growth. Abu Dhabi hosted 2.2 million MICE delegates, a 40 percent annual increase. Meanwhile, culture and leisure events attracted 4.2 million attendees, a 20 percent jump, with DCT Abu Dhabi organizing 252 such events during 2025.
DCT Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Strategy 2030 aims for 39.3 million annual visitors by the end of the decade, alongside the creation of 178,000 new tourism jobs and 50,000 hotel rooms. The strategy also targets an economic contribution of $24.5 billion (AED 90 billion) annually by 2030.
The Visitor Experience Guidelines are designed to support service delivery for these projected increases in visitor numbers and accommodation capacity. By placing operators, frontline teams and major assets under a unified set of expectations, the department ensures a direct implementation mechanism through compliance checks across participating businesses.
