Long seen as a quiet period, summer in the GCC is emerging as a high-impact window for brand engagement. Snap’s Dina Al Sabbagh explains how shifting behaviours, local leisure trends, and lower ad costs are reshaping the seasonal marketing playbook.

Why is summer in the GCC an underrated opportunity for brands to connect and convert?

There’s an outdated notion that summer in the GCC is a ‘dead season’. This belief has formed over the years due to extended travels that residents would take to escape the heat. As a response to that, and the absence of big cultural moments during summer, brands tended to scale back during this time. This has left a significant untapped opportunity — a strategic whitespace if you will – for advertisers who understand the benefit of reaching their audiences at a time where advertising costs less, ad clutter is reduced and many consumers are still highly active and very much spending time locally.

In fact, Snap data shows that the cost to advertisers during the summer gap period (April to August) is 19 per cent lower than the average annual CPM, thus creating the most cost-efficient time of the year to run campaigns for brands. Simultaneously, as CPMs drop, transactions increase in April and June, giving brands an opportunity to capture high-intent engagement at a lower cost.

Saudi Arabia, for example, is turning the summer season into a powerful cultural and commercial engine. With the travel and tourism market predicted to reach $4.3bn by 2027 (Statistica), Snapchat is where that momentum is unfolding — from trip planning to discovery. In fact, 89 per cent of Snapchatters who book holidays use creator links and 93 per cent turn to social media to find the best travel deals and promotions.

How is consumer behavior evolving during the summer months?

Summer in the GCC isn’t slowing down — it’s shifting. While international travel still peaks during summer, it is by no means a slow season for brand engagement and shopping. On one end, consumers are leaning in to the ever-growing leisure options locally, and on the other end, they’re shopping in preparation for their travels abroad.

The former is driven by the rapid development of the entertainment infrastructure in the GCC, giving residents more leisure options to stay, spend and explore during these months. From concerts and festivals to staycations and destination experiences, the season is becoming more dynamic. As a result, consumers are spending on entertainment and balancing international travels with more domestic trips during this season. Our research with Ipsos shows that consumers took on average three domestic trips during the summer of 2024, highlighting a growing appetite for local leisure and weekend getaways.

For the latter, one interesting myth that our research debunked was that consumers wait to do their summer shopping abroad. In reality, our consumer survey shows that in Saudi Arabia and UAE, over 75 per cent of holiday shopping is pre-planned and happens locally before the trip. Whether it’s to take advantage of offers, ensure preparation for a trip or simply free up time for other activities while abroad, consumers are choosing to get ahead of their travel needs.

The result is a summer season that isn’t just active but increasingly intentional. For brands, this creates a powerful opportunity to engage audiences who are in the discovery, planning and conversion stage all at once.

How can brands show up meaningfully in real-time moments without large seasonal campaigns?

You don’t need a major headline campaign to stay relevant. In fact, tapping into smaller calendar moments and celebrations, like graduation, Father’s Day or back-to-school, gives brands a chance to show up in a way that feels authentic, timely, human and locally aware.

These mini moments help maintain brand visibility without the heavy-lift of full-scale activations. And they work. According to a 2022 NRG study commissioned by Snap, 88 per cent of Snapchatters say brands or products that acknowledge and support celebrations they care about feel more relevant to them.

From a media planning perspective, these periods deliver a stronger ROI. CPMs during the summer gap (April –August) are 19 per cent lower than the annual average, creating one of the most cost-effective windows of the year to connect with audiences, especially when paired with high cultural relevance.

Snapchatters actively discuss and share purchase decisions on the platform, before and after buying, making it essential for brands to remain top of mind. For example, during Eid and graduation season, gifting and beauty -related content spikes, while wedding season ushers in increased engagement with fashion, jewellery, and event services. Around Saudi National Day, national pride and creative expression take centre stage, with users engaging more with AR Lenses, geofilters, and Spotlight content themed around the kingdom. The opportunity for brands is clear – be present when it counts, even if it’s not a major seasonal moment.

In what ways are audiences reshaping the traditional marketing calendar, and what should brands do differently?

Audiences today aren’t waiting for big moments to engage, and that’s reshaping how marketing calendars work. Traditional seasonal peaks are still important, but consumers are now engaging in more spontaneous, culturally driven ways across the year.

We see brands responding by using classic moments as anchors but not as the only focus. Traditional marketing calendars now serve as tent poles for planning activities that focus on driving consumer connection online – not only around key moments, but also during quieter periods to maintain ongoing engagement. The new approach blends these key occasions with an ‘always on’ mindset, showing up during both peak and quieter periods, especially when attention is high and CPM competition is low.

Instead of relying on large-scale campaigns, brands are maintaining engagement through smaller, strategic bursts, whether that’s through platform-native creative, creator-led storytelling, or content tied to emerging trends and mini moments. The new marketing calendar is shaped less by fixed dates and more by fluid attention. Brands that build for relevance, not just seasonality, are the ones staying top of mind.

How can brands tap into seasonal mindsets — such as travel, self-care, and family time — to build stronger emotional connections during summer?

It starts with understanding how seasonal behaviours differ by audience, and what evolving trends are shaping consumer behaviors and decisions. Our summer research shows us that locals in Saudi Arabia and the UAE are more likely than expats to take international family trips, which creates opportunities for messaging that leans into connection, memory-making and shared experiences.

We’re also seeing a surge in wellness and self-care awareness – but it’s not one-size-fits all. Depending on the audience, selfcare can be expressed through different ways, through beauty and grooming, physical wellness, mental clarity, or nutrition. These seasonal mindsets offer brands an opportunity to tap into what truly matters to their audiences during summer – from preparing for a trip, to winding down, or recharging for the season ahead.

The key is to tap into the emotional drivers, not just calendar moments. Whether it’s through creator content, narrative storytelling and AR, brands have the opportunity to engage in a timely, personal and deeply relevant manner.

What role does cultural relevance play in summer campaigns across the GCC, and how can brands localise without relying on traditional seasonal clichés?

Cultural relevance takes multiple forms. Whether through messaging, tonality, imagery used or playing on timely local trends and occasions, the core of it lies in a deep understanding of who your consumer is, and what they care about most during this moment in time.

In the GCC, summer looks and feels different depending on where you are and who you’re speaking to; from local families planning travel around Eid to younger audiences embracing wellness or celebrating graduation season. Brands that go beyond generic summer tropes and instead reflect the consumer behaviour and aspirations of their audience will build more authentic connections.

This doesn’t require big reinvention. It often starts with adjusting the lens by h being context-aware, tapping in on current conversations, and showing up in ways that feel familiar yet fresh. Localisation done well is subtle, intentional and emotionally attuned.

Commercial airlines around the world on Monday were weighing how long to suspend Middle East flights after the US struck Iran.

Singapore Airlines, one of the highest-profile in Asia, had called the situation “fluid” on Sunday as it cancelled flights from Singapore to Dubai following a security assessment.

The Middle East route has become more important for flights between Europe and Asia since Russian and Ukrainian airspace closed due to the crisis, but flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed empty space over Iran, Iraq, Syria and Israel.

Air France KLM said on Sunday that it cancelled flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh on Sunday and Monday.

British Airways, owned by IAG ICAG.L, also cancelled flights to and from Dubai and Doha for Sunday. It was still reviewing the situation, it said in a statement on Sunday evening, when asked about later flights.

Missile and drone barrages in a growing number of conflict zones represent a high risk to airline traffic, and an organisation that monitors flight risks, Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, warned on Sunday that US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites could heighten the threat to American operators in the region.

Airlines: cancellations, oil price concerns

In the days before the US strikes, American Airlines suspended flights to Qatar and United Airlines did the same with flights to Dubai.

Airlines are also concerned about a potential spike in oil prices following the US attacks, which will increase the cost of jet fuel.

Israel meanwhile is ramping up flights to help stranded travellers at home and abroad.

The country’s Airports Authority says that so-called rescue flights to the country would expand on Monday with 24 a day, although each flight would be limited to 50 passengers.

Israeli airline El Al on Sunday said it had received applications to leave the country from about 25,000 people in about a day.

The British Chamber of Commerce Dubai (BCCD) is keeping the momentum going all summer long.

From curated business introductions and summer networking events to brand exposure across its platforms, there’s no slowdown in sight.

Whether staying in Dubai, travelling to the UAE for work, or managing business remotely, BCCD supports members year-round with targeted networking, brand visibility, and curated business development opportunities.

Building on the success of last year’s series, BCCD will once again collaborate with Dubai-based international business councils to host weekly evening networking events across the city’s top venues.

With more than 1,000 members already, businesses can stay visible, connected, and grow their networks this summer by joining the expanding BCCD community.

Summer 2025: No slowdown in sight

For 38 years, BCCD has championed British and UK-linked businesses in the UAE. This summer, the calendar is as packed as ever.

You can view all the events here: https://britishchamberdubai.com/events

It begins with a Business Briefing in Manchester (24 June), offering UK-based professionals direct insights from UAE-based industry leaders. On the same evening in Dubai, BCCD hosts a Masterclass on AI at Work, exploring generative AI’s growing role in productivity.

The next day, London will host a UK-UAE Stakeholder Reception (25 June), bringing together business leaders and policymakers to strengthen bilateral ties.

From early July, the summer networking series kicks off:

• 3 July: German Business Council, Qwerty, Media One Hotel
• 10 July: Swiss Business Council, Alba Restaurant
• 17 July: Australian Business Council, Envy at Th8 Palm
  

The highlight comes on 18 July, with the Open Championship at Five Iron Golf Dubai, combining business and leisure in BCCD’s signature style.

Beyond events, BCCD remains a year-round accelerator, offering curated member introductions, weekly newsletters reaching 8,000 subscribers, and expert market briefings. Its ESG initiatives, which earned it the Outstanding Achievement Award in 2024, further distinguish the Chamber as a responsible business leader.

As summer unfolds, BCCD ensures its members stay connected, visible, and active — proving once again that for this Chamber, there’s never a quiet season.

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), in collaboration with real estate developer Emaar Properties, has announced the expansion of the Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Metro Station to accommodate surging passenger traffic, particularly during public holidays and high-profile events such as New Year’s Eve.

The expansion will increase the station’s total area from 6,700 to 8,500 square metres, boosting its hourly capacity by 65 per cent — from 7,250 to 12,320 passengers.

Once completed, the upgraded station will be able to serve up to 220,000 passengers per day, according to a statement by the RTA.

Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Metro Station — A central hub

“The Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Metro Station is a key hub in the Dubai Metro network, thanks to its strategic location near Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall, and Downtown Dubai,” said Mattar Al Tayer, DG and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA. “It serves as a convenient and efficient gateway for residents and visitors, particularly during large-scale events.”

Al Tayer added that the expansion is a response to sustained growth in ridership, with long-term demand projections extending through 2040.

Passenger traffic during New Year’s Eve alone exceeds 110,000, and the station has recorded an average annual ridership growth of 7.5 per cent over the past five years.

Key highlights of the Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Metro Station; what to expect

Since its opening in 2010, the station has seen consistent increases in usage. Passenger numbers rose from 6.13 million in 2013 to 7.254 million in 2016, and 7.885 million in 2019.

By 2022, that figure had climbed to 8.827 million, surpassing 10.202 million in 2023 and 10.577 million in 2024, representing a daily average of nearly 58,000 passengers.

In addition to the increased floor area, the project includes improvements to station entrances, pedestrian bridges, concourse and platform areas, and the installation of more escalators and elevators.

Entry and exit gates will be separated to optimise passenger movement, while the number of fare gates and commercial spaces will also be increased to support higher throughput and revenue.

The design of the expanded station maintains the architectural identity of elevated Dubai Metro stations, inspired by the form of a seashell.

The interior focuses on clarity, safety, and ease of movement, with visual connectivity and reduced walking distances.

Entrances will be integrated with public transport and alternative mobility modes such as bicycles and e-scooters, and the station will ensure full inclusivity, catering to People of Determination, senior citizens, and families with strollers.

Read New initiative: How UAE is enhancing the quality of life for senior citizens, expats

“A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was human.” Alan Turing

We have come a long way since the beginning of modern AI in the 1950s and especially in the last few years. I believe we are now at the tipping point where AI is changing the way we do research and changing the way industry interacts with these technologies. Politics and society are having to adjust and make sure that AI is used in an ethical and secure way, and also that privacy concerns are addressed. Whilst AI has a lot of potential, there are still a number of issues and concerns. If we manage to address these, we can look ahead to good things from AI.

Alan Turing (1912 – 1954) was a British mathematician and computer scientist and he’s also widely known as the father of theoretical computer science and AI. He made a number of notable contributions, for instance, he introduced the concepts of a theoretical computing machine, also known as the Turing machine, which laid the foundation for what is now known as modern computer science. He worked on the design of early computers with the National Physics Laboratory and also later at the University of Manchester, where I’m based. He undertook pioneering work and this continues to be influential in contemporary computer science. He also developed the Turing test that measures the ability of a machine to exhibit intelligent behaviour that’s equivalent or indistinguishable from that of a human.

The Turing Test: Why its relevant

The Turing test is still used today. Turing introduced it as a test for what’s known as the imitation game in which a human interrogator interacts with two hidden entities — one human and the other a machine — through text-based communication, similar to ChatGPT. The interrogator cannot see or hear the participants and must rely just on the text conversation to make a judgment on whether it’s a machine or a human. The objective for the machine is to generate responses that are indistinguishable from those of a human. The human participant aims to convince the interrogator of her/his humanity. If the interrogator cannot reliably distinguish between a machine and a human, then the machine is said to have passed the Turing test.

It sounds very simple but it’s an important test because it has become a classic benchmark for assessing AI. But there are also criticisms and limitations to the test. As we mark Alan Turing Day 2024, I can say that AI is moving closer to passing the Turing test – but we’re not quite there yet.

A recent paper stated that ChatGPT had passed the Turing test. ChatGPT is a natural language processing model and generates responses to questions that we pose that look like responses from a human. Some people would say ChatGPT has passed the Turing test and certainly for short conversations, ChatGPT is doing quite a good job. But as you have a longer conversation with ChatGPT, you notice there are some flaws and weaknesses. So, I think ChatGPT is probably the closest we get to passing the Turing test, at the moment.

Many researchers and companies are working on improving the current version of ChatGPT and I would like to see that the machine understands what it produces. At the moment, ChatGPT produces a sequence of words that are suitable to address a particular query but it doesn’t understand the meaning of these words. If ChatGPT understands the true meaning of a sentence – and that is done by contextualising a particular response or query — I think we are then in a position to say, yes, it has passed the Turing test. I would have hoped to pass this stage by now but I hope we will reach this point in a few years’ time, perhaps around 2030.

At the University of Manchester, we are working on various aspects of AI in healthcare — getting better, cheaper or quicker treatment is in the interest of society. It starts off with drug discovery. Can we find drugs that are more potent than drugs and have fewer side effects and ideally are cheaper to manufacture than the drugs currently available? We use AI to help guide us through the search space of different drug combinations. And the AI tells us, for example, which drugs we should combine and at which dose.

We also work with the UK National Health Service and have come up with fairer reimbursement schemes for hospitals. In one case, we use what’s called sequential decision making. In the other one, we use techniques that are based on decision trees. So, we use different methods and look at different applications of AI within healthcare.

A particular area of cyber security that I’m working on is secure source code – it’s the way we tell a computer what to do and is one of the fundamental levels we humans interact with a computer. If the source code (a sequence of instructions) is poor quality, then it can open up security vulnerabilities which could be exploited by hackers. We use verification techniques combined with AI to scan through source code, identify security issues of different types, and then fix them. We have shown that by doing that, we increase the quality of code and improve the resilience of a piece of software. We generate a lot of code and we want to make sure the code is safe, especially if for a business in a high stakes sector, such as healthcare, defence or finance.

AI in sport

There’s a lot of scope and potential for AI in creativity and sport. In football, we have data about match action – where the ball is, who has the ball, and the positioning of the players. It’s really big data and we can analyse it to refine a strategy when playing a particular opponent, by looking at past performance and player style, and use the data to adjust our strategy. This would be very tough without AI because of the sheer amount and complexity of the data.

We are also looking at music education and helping people learn an instrument better by creating virtual music teachers. We can use AI combined with other technologies, such as virtual reality and augmented reality, to project a tutor. If you wear VR goggles, you can actually interact with the tutor. This is quite revolutionary and potentially opens up music to everyone on the planet.

At the moment we’re at the stage where AI is exceptionally good in doing specific tasks and we are making very good progress on general AI — AI behaving in a similar way to humans and that we can interact with. This is a game changer made possible by ChatGPT and other examples. This technology is being used by industry for completely new business ideas we haven’t even thought of.

A vision and strategy for AI is crucial. The UAE National Strategy for AI 2031 is a very good example of an ambitious vision covering education and reskilling, investment in research but also in the translation of research into practice.

The strategy even looks at ethical AI development, making sure the AI is used ethically, securely and that privacy concerns are mitigated. I think the strategy has all the components that are needed to be successful and we can all learn a lot from this approach.

The writer is the professor of Applied Artificial Intelligence and Associate Dean for Business Engagement, Civic & Cultural Partnerships (Humanities) at Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester.

Read Building trust in AI: The UAE’s journey to a digital cognitive future