Americans Can Visit Dubai Again Starting July 7

by Gary Leff

Dubai will welcome tourists starting July 7. They will require,

  • Negative COVID test from within 96 hours of arrival, or a test on arrival
  • Download and register with a contact tracing app (“COVID19 DXB”)
  • Comply with current face mask requirements

The U.A.E. has a population of around 10 million, a third of whom live in Dubai. The UAE continues to confirm several hundred cases of COVID-19 daily. In total there have been around 45,000 cases, peaking in late May at around 1000 a day.

This is hardly peak tourist season for Dubai, with daily temperatures averaging about 100 degrees. Still, staying somewhere like Al Maha Desert Resort seems fantastic for social distancing. You get your own standalone villa with your own private pool. When I was there you could choose to take all of your meals in-villa too as part of the resort’s all-inclusive approach.

Nearly all nights through September are available at Marriott’s standard category 8 pricing.

Really, summer ought to be off-peak and summer now certainly should be, but Marriott does compensate the hotel more than a regular category 8 because they’re all inclusive.

FULL BOARD REDEMPTION STAY
Include breakfast, lunch, dinner and 02 selected desert
activities for 02 adults. 3rd adult and children 10 and above
will pay AED 1600 plus taxes directly at property. Any other
incidentals are also to be paid directly at property.
Children below 10 years not permitted in Resort

For that matter, it’s not super difficult to social distance at the city’s Burj Al Arab hotel, either.

In many parts of the U.S. COVID testing with results returned quickly can be a challenge. At least one local lab here in Austin is reporting tests from nearly a week ago right now. That makes it difficult to secure negative testing paperwork close to departure.

Testing on arrival does concern me because of the possibility of a false positive, and I don’t love the idea of having to quarantine somewhere (and covering the cost to do so). But it’s great to see the possibility of travel returning.

With a serious spike in cases here in Austin I’m beginning to judge travel and many destinations to be safer than staying home. In Dubai they’re more serious about their masks and distancing than we are here in my home town.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Why would any progressive minded person want to visit Gaudy tacky Dubai where women are oppressed, they claim to ban gambling (untrue) alcohol (untrue), homosexuality (untrue) and foreigners are regularly arrested and accused of outrageous things like touching someone in public places like night clubs or showing off their bodies when by a pool in decent modest swimwear all to make money earning fines and frighten indigenous people with press stories of infidels sullying their culture – all the while enjoying the spoils of tourism. Boycott this non progressive placed. There’s more culture in a lot of yoghurt!

  3. @Johnny So alcohol is openly and legally available in Dubai. OAN must have misreported that when you watched their ‘terrorism hotspots’ special on it.

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