Abu Dhabi, UAE – December 2025: The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has updated the emirate’s regulatory system for holiday homes to offer a more streamlined experience for owners, operators and sector partners.
The improvements reduce approval times, simplify licensing procedures and provide users with a more modern, flexible digital platform, marking a milestone in DCT Abu Dhabi’s digital transformation journey. In addition to its impact on licensing, the digital platform increases regulatory compliance, improves revenue management for holiday homes and enhances integration with government entities.
H.E Hamad Mohammed Alsudain, Executive Director of Support Services at DCT Abu Dhabi, said: “The holiday homes sector continues to experience robust growth, driven by greater transparency and enhanced efficiency and an increasingly user-friendly operating environment. These advances further strengthen Abu Dhabi’s position as a world-class tourism destination. The current improvements reflect our ongoing commitment to digital transformation and honour DCT Abu Dhabi’s commitment under Tourism Strategy 2030 to further enhance the holiday home segment to diversify accommodation options.”
The enhanced system reinforces quality and safety standards by providing tools for better monitoring, inspections and compliance tracking, helping operators maintain high operational standards while meeting regulatory requirements.
The system is designed to fully comply with all required data protection policies, ensuring that sensitive information is managed and stored with the highest levels of security and integrity.
The latest enhancements are in addition to improvements to the Holiday Home System in 2024. In that year, DCT Abu Dhabi worked in close coordination with government stakeholders to integrate the licensing platform with the Department of Municipalities and Transport and the self-inspection system, reducing permit issuance time to under six hours.
About the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi:
The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) drives the sustainable growth of Abu Dhabi’s culture and tourism sectors, fuels economic progress and helps achieve Abu Dhabi’s wider global ambitions. By working in partnership with the organisations that define the emirate’s position as a leading international destination, DCT Abu Dhabi strives to unite the ecosystem around a shared vision of the emirate’s potential, coordinate effort and investment, deliver innovative solutions, and use the best tools, policies and systems to support the culture, creative and tourism industries.
DCT Abu Dhabi’s vision is defined by the emirate’s people, heritage and landscape. We work to enhance Abu Dhabi’s status as a place of authenticity, innovation, and unparalleled experiences, represented by its living traditions of hospitality, pioneering initiatives and creative thought.
