With the growing global wellness boom, Dubai, a city that
has always been ahead of the curve, is leading the way thanks to its early
adoption of smart technology, investment in its healthcare strategy and a new
breed of fitness hotels
The increasing interest in health and wellness can be attributed to many factors including social media and developing technology. With a focus on nutrition and a healthy lifestyle, it involves a proactive, preventative approach to health.
Event planners are changing their itineraries for participants who are demanding more and different choices. Post Covid, companies, too, are coming under pressure to help their employees manage their health and wellbeing.
An influential Working Well report
issued by the John Lewis Partnership recently stated: “Fulfilling and meaningful work is a source of wellbeing. Having a supportive employer, who enhances employee wellbeing and invests in early clinical intervention, can make a real difference
to someone grappling with a physical or mental health condition and their recovery. For business, a healthy, engaged workforce can boost performance and productivity. New research from the John Lewis Partnership and Centre for Economics and Business
Research (Cebr) shows the total cost of absenteeism in the UK due to mental health and musculoskeletal conditions is forecast to reach £3.8 billion in 2025. While substantial, this is dwarfed by an estimated £84 billion in reduced productivity by
2025.
“By employers, health experts and government working together, we estimate businesses in the UK can save up to … £36.4 billion.”
The numbers are huge. Alexander Orlov, founder and chairman of Bulldozer Group, says in Hotelier Middle East that the global wellness economy is on track to exceed US$7 trillion by 2025 as high-net-worth individuals lead the charge.
“In an age shaped by burnout, global uncertainty and a cultural obsession with longevity,” he says, “The true symbol of status is no longer just what you own, it’s how well you take care of yourself. Once solely defined by jets and jewels, modern luxury
has shifted from opulence to optimisation of the mind, body and spirit.
“From biohacking to breathwork, cold plunges to custom IV drips, the world’s wealthiest are now chasing vitality the way they once chased vintage champagne and Himalayan salt rooms.
“And nowhere is that more apparent than in Dubai, a city that has built its reputation on anticipating what luxury wants before the rest of the world catches on.”
Wellness, beyond luxury, has been reinvented and pioneered by a new vision in Dubai.
Exciting new wellness venues
The Siro
One Zaabeel, part of Kerzner International, opened in 2024 with 132 rooms in a new style of upmarket fitness hotel in Downtown Dubai. Offering Fitness, Recovery and Wellness programmes, the group states: “At SIRO, everything we do is driven by one goal:
to help you live better. From sleep-enhancing rooms to programmes that strengthen your body, fuel your energy and calm your mind, every detail is built to unlock your potential. More than just a hotel, SIRO is a global community united by a shared
commitment to live, train, recover, eat and sleep better.”
It sounds like the future, doesn’t it?
Therme
Dubai is currently under construction. It will be the world’s tallest wellness retreat when it opens in 2028. Developed in partnership with
Therme Group – a leading global wellness company – this massive AED2 billion project will combine leisure, healthcare and entertainment, all under one extraordinary roof. Set over nearly 50,000
sqm and soaring to a height of 100 metres, Therme Dubai is designed to accommodate up to 1.7 million visitors annually. Featuring a huge interactive park, with the largest indoor botanical garden on Earth and three 18-metre waterfalls, it will offer
a thermal complex, indoor and outdoor pools plus natural and luxurious spa treatments.
Approximately 90 minutes from central Dubai via a winding scenic journey through the beautiful desert brings you to Hatta
in the east of the emirate. Here groups can escape the city and enjoy wilderness adventures – mountain biking, hiking, kayaking on the Hatta Dam and horse riding in the foothills of the Hatta mountains – along with BBQs around a camp fire under
the stars.
Terra Solis Dubai
meanwhile offers a magical desert setting just half an hour from the Burj Khalifa. Offering several lovely outdoor venues for private events against the backdrop of the Arabian sand dunes under the desert sky, accommodation is offered in luxurious
tents and lodges in the desert or in cabins by the vast and beautiful swimming pool.
And for those that want their wellness closer to the action, The Retreat Palm Dubai MGallery
by Sofitel
is currently the only five-star wellness retreat in the UAE. It offers a dedicated in-house wellness team, a range of personalised retreats and healthy meal options in a sanctuary tucked away in a gorgeous location on the shores of Palm Jumeirah.
Dubai’s
healthcare strategy
In October, Dubai hosted the Future Wellness Summit, a platform that brings together cutting-edge research, visionary ideas and transformative practices. Thought leaders, experts and enthusiasts from diverse fields met to discuss ways to blend ancient
and modern approaches to health, mindfulness, nutrition, fitness and mental well-being.
Keen to share knowledge and attract the best and the brightest, Dubai is proactively attracting international healthcare events. Click
here to learn more about how successful this has been for the city.
In addition to the city’s ambitious Dubai Economic Agenda, D33, and Dubai Health Strategy 2033, a series of plans and policies are being put in place to make Dubai one of the world’s most beautiful, liveable and healthiest cities. Involving
the development of public parks, affordable schools, sports and an expansion of early detection healthcare services, Dubai hopes to set the global standard for future cities that balance human well-being and urban resilience.
The urban greening and parks initiative has a budget of AED18.3 billion (US$ 5.98 billion) for 800 projects including 310 new parks, 120 new open spaces, tripling the number of trees and using 100 per cent recycled water for irrigation. The project also
promotes healthy lifestyles, aiming for 80 per cent of Dubai’s residents to live within a five-minute walk of a neighbourhood park and within a ten-minute cycle ride of a district park.
The Sports Sector Strategic Plan 2033, developed by the Dubai Sports Council, aims to make Dubai the world’s leading sports hub. It focuses on attracting international events, supporting sports clubs, developing talent and encouraging public participation
in sports.
Dubai Fitness Challenge
The annual Dubai Fitness Challenge (DFC) took place in November. Featuring four flagship mass-participation events, three Fitness Villages and more than 25 community hubs, its aim was to once again encourage physical activity and kick-start new habits.
The ninth edition of the city-wide initiative, this year’s ‘Find Your Challenge’ theme invited everyone of all ages and abilities to commit to 30 minutes of daily physical activity for 30 days, and to continue the momentum beyond that. The city was
transformed through the month-long celebration.
More than 40,000 cyclists took part in the Dubai Ride 2025, which kicked off the DFC, and saw cyclists of all ages and abilities choose between two routes - a family-friendly 4km Downtown loop and a 12km Sheikh Zayed Road course. This
was followed by the world's largest free community run, in which 300,000 athletes descended on the Sheikh Zayed Road for Dubai Run 2025.
The landmark finale was Dubai Yoga in Zabeel Park bringing the extraordinary event to a mindful close with a team of more than 40 local yoga instructors.
Smart city healthcare
Dubai is actively investing in smart city solutions including mobility, infrastructure, waste and the environment. The infrastructure for a technologically enabled smart future is being put in place while the UAE pursues its ambition to become the best
country in the world by the centennial year 2071.
“Private sector partnerships and innovation will be pivotal as the UAE takes on a bigger role as a medical tourism destination,” says Marwan Abdulaziz Janahi Senior Vice President, Dubai Science Park. “Equally impactful are our focused investments to
promote research. Tomorrow’s healthcare will need to be more proactive, preventative and personalised than ever before. For healthcare service providers and pharmaceutical companies that can leverage the burgeoning med-tech sector, this evolution
presents the opportunity to target an ever-expanding base of educated and self-aware customers. Together, we can pave the way for a patient-centric, smarter health care industry for people in the UAE, the region and the world.”
Dubai Health has recently announced the launch of the Artificial Intelligence Literacy Framework (ALiF), the first comprehensive framework developed in the UAE to advance AI literacy in professional environments. A first-of-its-kind
initiative in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, ALiF underscores Dubai Health’s commitment to innovation and continuous learning.
Developed at the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU), which leads the Learning and Discovery missions of Dubai Health, ALiF offers a structured blueprint for understanding, evaluating and effectively applying artificial
intelligence across sectors.
It's personal: the future of medicine
A report entitled ‘The UAE health ecosystem, future trends
and insights’
explains how the notion of health care is transitioning from ‘sick care’ systems to wellness, chronic care and population health and is extending to include mental health, social determinants and environmental factors.
As the way we think about health and care changes, the concept of health is moving from reactive to proactive care. The vision of the future of medicine, says the report, is predictive, personalised, preventive and participatory. Individuals are actively
engaged, through digital-health technologies, in managing their health and wellness.
Future health care will be built around highly personalised products and services optimising patient and workforce experiences. Highly technologically enabled, smart health ecosystems can take advantage of the full capabilities of technologies that are
changing health care, including AI, robotics and automation.
Inbound medical tourism is a major economic pillar for Dubai and other emirates, leveraging its excellent transportation and tourism infrastructure and high-quality and trusted health care. In 2021, Dubai and Abu Dhabi were nominated
as being two of the top 10 medical tourism destinations in the world.
Digital-health technologies bring the tools to further expand medical tourism and an enabling regulatory environment facilitates investment in an innovative health care service system and infrastructure built as a smart health care ecosystem.
Says Orlov: “Private members’ wellness clubs, state-of-the-art longevity clinics, performance-focused spas and nutrition-led culinary concepts are flourishing across the region. Dubai isn’t just importing wellness, it’s rebranding it.
“From personalised health plans and recovery suites to immersive sanctuaries of self-care, wellness is now a language of luxury spoken fluently by the global elite. And Dubai, with its visionary approach to lifestyle innovation, is fast becoming the capital
of this movement.”
It’s a shift that looks set to have a major impact on the world of events and could well be a force for good.
Whether across desert locales, futuristic wellness venues, community-wide activities or emerging technologies – Dubai has set out to rebuild the idea of a thriving healthcare sector, anchored by innovation, implemented by integration.
For more information, click here
