Dubai to strengthen its status as a sustainable tourism destination

Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST) part of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) to further strengthen Dubai’s position as one of the world’s leading sustainable tourism destinations, launches ‘Get into the Green Scene’.

The initiative is aimed at Dubai residents and visitors to raise awareness of the city’s sustainable attractions and highlight the ease of incorporating sustainable practices into everyday life.

The launch of the ‘Get into the Green Scene’ initiative includes a sustainability calendar, featuring a series of environmental days throughout the year and ways in which people can engage within the theme of that calendar day.  Included are simple, but fun, eco-conscious actions that promote the city’s natural spaces and hidden gems, as well as spotlights advocacy organisations, partner and stakeholders that are working towards a more sustainable planet.

This initiative is just one example of DST bringing together public and private entities to further strengthen the city’s positioning as a forward-thinking, world class destination for sustainable tourism. Moreover, it is also aligned with the recent announcement from HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE on the “Year of the 50th” campaign, where sustainability is one of four strategic pillars that will advance the country, support wellbeing and livelihood as well as proactive development and opportunities. DST is well-placed to drive these objectives forward successfully through its strong partnership network across the city.

Yousuf Lootah, Vice Chairman of Dubai Sustainable Tourism, commented on the launch of the initiative: “We are very proud to launch the ‘Get into the Green Scene’, which promotes the ease in which visitors and residents can embrace sustainability-minded behaviours. It also highlights the breadth of work that is being done across Dubai by our partners and stakeholders to ensure a positive impact on our environment as well as ways in which we can work together in support.

Often the magnitude of what sustainability entails can be overwhelming, which is why we aim to simplify understanding with action for this initiative to make it more manageable and tangible to people of all ages.” The ‘Get into the Green Scene’ sustainability calendar is available to download here and covers eight environmental, wildlife and eco-tourism days over 2021.

Every step taken in the right direction, has to start from somewhere. In honour of one of the most popular sustainable days of the year, there is no more fitting time to ‘Get into the Green Scene’ than on the heels of Earth Day 2021. Under Earth Day’s theme – Restore Our Earth, we can all move to action and ‘Get into the Green Scene’ throughout the year to raise awareness on climate issues, our environmental impact, and sustainability.

This day encourages individuals to plant trees to promote ecological balance and reduce carbon levels. Make a pledge to support the UAE’s national tree preservation efforts with Goumbook’s ‘Give a Ghaf’ tree planting programme.

Bee preservation is a critical part of food security measures around the world, with a third of the world’s food production depending on them. Celebrate these little pollinators and discover their home-grown contributions at the Honeybee Garden & Discovery centre in Hatta.