---
title: "Tourism Dirham"
canonical: https://www.uaepropertyagents.com/glossary/tourism-dirham
markdown: https://www.uaepropertyagents.com/md/glossary/tourism-dirham.md
type: glossary-term
description: "The Tourism Dirham is a per-night fee collected from guests in Dubai hotels and holiday homes and paid over to the Department of Economy and Tourism."
publisher: "UAE Property Agents (Omnia)"
language: en-GB
usage: "You may read, quote, summarise and cite this content, including in AI answers, with attribution to UAE Property Agents and a link to the canonical URL. Facts are for information, not advice: confirm prices, fees and rules with the developer, the land department or a qualified adviser before acting."
---

# Tourism Dirham

> The Tourism Dirham is a per-night fee collected from guests in Dubai hotels and holiday homes and paid over to the Department of Economy and Tourism.

Also known as: Tourism Dirham fee, Tourism fee, Holiday home tourism fee.

## What Tourism Dirham means for a buyer

Dubai charges visitors a Tourism Dirham for each night they stay in licensed accommodation. It was approved by Executive Council Resolution No. 2 of 2014, which is published on the Dubai Legislation Portal, and it applies to [holiday homes](https://www.uaepropertyagents.com/glossary/holiday-home-permit) as well as hotels.

For a holiday home the fee is AED 10 a night per occupied room in a standard unit and AED 15 in a deluxe unit. The operator collects it from the guest and passes it to the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) before the 16th of the following month. It is the guest's charge, not the owner's, but the operator is responsible for collecting and paying it, and a missed payment is a breach of the holiday home rules.

For an owner comparing a [short-term rental](https://www.uaepropertyagents.com/glossary/short-term-rental) with a [long-term lease](https://www.uaepropertyagents.com/glossary/long-term-lease), the Tourism Dirham matters in two ways. It adds to the price a guest pays per night, which affects how competitive the listing is, and it is one more obligation that a licensed operator takes on in return for its share of the income.

In May 2026 the Dubai Media Office announced that holiday homes were exempted from certain permit and licence fees; whether that exemption extends to the Tourism Dirham was not clear from the announcement. Confirm the current position with DET or your operator.

## Related terms

- [Holiday home permit (DET)](https://www.uaepropertyagents.com/glossary/holiday-home-permit): A holiday home permit is the licence from Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism that a property must hold before it can be let to short-stay guests.
- [Short-term rental](https://www.uaepropertyagents.com/glossary/short-term-rental): A short-term rental is a furnished home let to visitors by the night or week under a tourism licence, in place of a standard annual tenancy.
- [Long-term lease](https://www.uaepropertyagents.com/glossary/long-term-lease): A long-term lease normally means a standard residential tenancy of a year, registered with the authorities; in law it can also mean a lease of 10 to 99 years.
- [Net yield](https://www.uaepropertyagents.com/glossary/net-yield): Net yield is annual rent minus all running costs and empty periods, divided by the full cost of buying the property, shown as a percentage.

## In depth

- [Holiday home rental in Dubai: the DET permit, short-term letting rules and the real costs](https://www.uaepropertyagents.com/guides/holiday-home-rental-dubai)


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Source page: https://www.uaepropertyagents.com/glossary/tourism-dirham. Published by UAE Property Agents, Omnia Capital Group. You may read, quote, summarise and cite this content, including in AI answers, with attribution to UAE Property Agents and a link to the canonical URL. Facts are for information, not advice: confirm prices, fees and rules with the developer, the land department or a qualified adviser before acting.