Abu Dhabi’s long-standing love affair with the sea has received a decidedly digital upgrade, with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) launching a new online guide to make the emirate’s vast maritime playground easier to explore.
The Abu Dhabi Islands and Watersports Guide brings together information covering the emirate’s more than 200 islands, coastal destinations, water activities, licensed operators and marine environments in one platform. Launched to coincide with DCT Abu Dhabi’s participation in Arabian Travel Market 2026, it targets visitors who would rather see the capital from a kayak, yacht or speedboat than from the back seat of a taxi.
The guide combines suggested itineraries, water-sports recommendations, operator listings, information about marine protected areas, coastal guidance and an interactive map. The official Experience Abu Dhabi platform goes further, letting travellers check island access, locate boating facilities including slipways and fuel stations, find water-activity operators, and view live weather information.
For visitors, that means fewer crossed fingers and rather more informed planning.
Abu Dhabi’s islands are certainly not all created equal when it comes to public access. The guide identifies destinations by accessibility and restrictions, including protected marine areas and privately owned islands, helping visitors understand where they can responsibly venture and, just as importantly, where they should not.
Experiences range from sailing and island hopping to kayaking through mangroves, diving, fishing, paddleboarding, and faster-paced motorised water sports. The official guide highlights major destinations including Saadiyat Island, Yas Island, Sir Bani Yas Island, Hudayriyat Island and the Corniche, while Abu Dhabi’s mangroves and quieter coastal corners provide a nature-based counterpoint to the emirate’s luxury hotels, cultural attractions and rather formidable collection of architectural landmarks.
His Excellency Saleh Mohamed Al Geziry, Director General for Tourism at DCT Abu Dhabi, said the initiative reflected the emirate’s historic relationship with the sea.
“Our ancestors were sailors, and the sun, sand and sea have always been central to Abu Dhabi’s identity.”
Al Geziry said the guide was designed to help visitors explore Abu Dhabi’s waters “safely and responsibly”, while preserving maritime heritage and supporting the emirate’s push towards authentic and sustainable coastal tourism. His title and quoted remarks have been checked against the official launch announcement.
And considerably more is riding on those waters than a few pleasure craft.
The initiative feeds directly into Abu Dhabi Tourism Strategy 2030, which targets 39.3 million annual visitors by 2030, a tourism-related economic contribution of AED 90 billion, and 178,000 new jobs across the tourism ecosystem. The strategy also seeks to broaden Abu Dhabi’s tourism proposition through cultural, outdoor and nature-based experiences while expanding infrastructure and visitor capacity.
The new maritime guide fits neatly into that playbook. Rather than relying solely on another headline attraction, DCT Abu Dhabi is making more of an asset already sitting on its doorstep: the Arabian Gulf.
By giving travellers clearer access to lesser-known islands and coastal experiences, the guide can help disperse visitors, support licensed tourism operators, encourage longer stays and make the emirate’s enormous coastline a more tangible part of a holiday itinerary.
DCT Abu Dhabi developed the platform with government and industry partners including the Department of Government Enablement, Department of Municipalities and Transport, Department of Economic Development, Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Maritime.
For travel advisers, the commercial value is equally straightforward. It turns an enormous archipelago into something more saleable, understandable and bookable for clients, particularly repeat visitors looking beyond Abu Dhabi’s established attractions.
Abu Dhabi has long sold sun, sand and sea.
Now, rather sensibly, it has provided the instructions.
The official Abu Dhabi Islands and Watersports Guide is available through Experience Abu Dhabi. Explore the official Abu Dhabi Islands and Watersports Guide.
By: Octavia Koo – © 2026.
Read Time: 3 minutes.
Author Bio:
Octavia Koo arrived in Australia in the early eighties with little fuss and a good eye. Sydney suited her. At UNSW, she studied Arts, then found her footing in graphic design before drifting, quite naturally, into the digital side of things, building websites and shaping words that made people want to stay.
Singapore followed, and with it, the fast pace of tourism platforms and ITB Asia. Long before SEO became a buzzword, Octavia understood how stories travelled online. That’s where she met Stephen, and the seed for something more was planted.
A few years later, she joined Global Travel Media.
Today, Octavia works with quiet assurance, blending art, instinct and experience to produce stories that don’t shout; they simply work and linger.
