Dubai has set a new record for sustainable hospitality recognition, awarding 237 hotels with the Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST) Stamp in the programme’s third cycle. Presented by the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, the stamp celebrates hotels that have made a genuine, measurable commitment to responsible and environmentally conscious operations.
The growth in participation tells its own story. Compared with the previous round, the number of recognised hotels jumped by 55% — from 153 to 237. And since the programme launched in 2023 with just 70 recipients, the figure has more than tripled. That trajectory reflects something real: sustainability is shifting from a differentiator to an expectation across Dubai’s hospitality sector.
A Major Milestone for Dubai’s Hospitality Industry
The consistent rise in award numbers isn’t just a feel-good statistic. It reflects hotels making tangible investments — in energy systems, water management, procurement policies, community programmes and more — to meet standards that are independently assessed and rigorously verified.
The programme also advances the UAE’s commitments to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the country’s Net Zero 2050 Strategy. Every hotel that adopts more sustainable operations contributes, in a practical way, to those larger national and global targets. Dubai’s ambition to remain one of the world’s leading tourism destinations is increasingly tied to how seriously the sector takes these responsibilities.
Dubai Sustainable Tourism Stamp Award Categories
The third cycle distributed awards across three performance tiers based on each hotel’s sustainability assessment results:
- 22 Gold Awards
- 92 Silver Awards
- 123 Bronze Awards
Each tier recognises hotels that met the sustainability requirements set by the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism — with Gold representing the highest level of performance across the full range of criteria.
What Hotels Are Evaluated On
To earn the Dubai Sustainable Tourism Stamp, hotels go through a comprehensive assessment against Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria covering everything from their carbon footprint to how they engage with guests and local communities.
The key areas of evaluation include:
- Energy efficiency
- Water conservation
- Waste management
- Responsible sourcing
- Employee engagement
- Guest awareness initiatives
- Community programmes
- Climate action measures
The breadth of these criteria reflects an understanding that genuine sustainability isn’t just about switching to LED lighting — it runs through every dimension of how a hotel operates and how it relates to the people and environment around it.
Independent Assessment Ensures Transparency
The credibility of the programme depends on the independence of its evaluation process, and that’s been built in from the start. Third-party assessors carry out the inspections, and results are reviewed by a senior jury committee before awards are confirmed. Hotels must also meet DET’s 19 Sustainability Requirements to qualify.
The stamp is valid for one year, which means this isn’t a one-time certification that hotels can coast on. It has to be renewed, which creates ongoing pressure to maintain and improve performance rather than simply achieve the minimum once and move on.
Supporting Dubai’s Net Zero 2050 Vision
Yousuf Lootah, CEO of Corporate Strategy and Performance at the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism and Head of the DET Environmental Sustainability and Social Responsibility Committee, described the programme as central to Dubai’s long-term environmental commitments.
He traced the initiative back to its 2023 launch, explaining that it was introduced specifically to set new benchmarks for sustainable hospitality in line with the UAE’s Net Zero 2050 goals. The programme’s growth, he said, shows that sustainability is no longer a peripheral concern for hotel operators — it’s becoming core to how they run their businesses.
Lootah also highlighted the value the stamp provides to travellers — a verified, independently assessed signal that the hotel they’re choosing has met genuine sustainability standards, not just published a green policy on its website.
How DET Helps Hotels Become More Sustainable
The stamp itself is the recognition, but DET has built a practical support infrastructure to help hotels get there and keep improving.
Two tools stand out. The Carbon Calculator allows hotels to measure their greenhouse gas emissions, identify where energy savings are available and track progress over time — turning an abstract sustainability goal into a set of concrete operational decisions.
The Dubai Sustainable Tourism Course, available through the Dubai Way platform and delivered by the Dubai College of Tourism, helps hospitality professionals build the knowledge and practical skills to implement sustainability measures effectively. The idea is that the stamp isn’t just a destination — it’s supported by a pathway that any hotel can follow regardless of where it’s starting from.
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Why the Sustainable Tourism Stamp Matters
Travellers are increasingly factoring sustainability into their accommodation choices, and that shift in consumer behaviour is creating real commercial pressure on hotels to demonstrate their environmental credentials in a credible way.
The Dubai Sustainable Tourism Stamp answers that need. It gives guests an independently verified signal rather than a hotel’s own self-assessment, which carries considerably more weight. For the hotels themselves, the programme provides both a goal to work toward and a publicly recognised reward for reaching it.
For Dubai’s broader tourism reputation, having 237 hotels operating to verified sustainability standards strengthens the emirate’s position as a destination that takes its environmental responsibilities seriously — an increasingly important factor in global tourism decision-making.
More Growth Expected in Future Editions
The Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism has signalled that future editions will bring additional improvements to the programme as sustainability and accessibility objectives continue to evolve.
Hotels that missed out on recognition in this cycle are being encouraged to build on their current performance and enter future rounds. With participation growing substantially year on year, the Dubai Sustainable Tourism Stamp is on track to become a defining feature of the emirate’s hospitality landscape — shaping how hotels invest, how guests choose and how Dubai presents itself to the world as a tourism destination.