Privacy Notice: Visit Dubai Application

The Department of Economy and Tourism (“DET”) is an entity established pursuant to Law No. 20 of 2021 and having its principal address at P.O. Box 594, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. DET is the principal authority for the planning, supervision, development and marketing of tourism in Dubai. DET also markets and promotes Dubai’s commerce sector and is responsible for the licensing and classification of all tourism services, including hotels establishments, tour operators, travel agents and all other tourism services. You can find out more about DET at: https://www.dubaitourism.gov.ae/about-us.

DET and its affiliates including, but not limited to, Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment and Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (collectively, “Dubai DET”, “We”, “we”, “our” or “us”) are committed to providing excellent service to all customers, including respecting their concerns about privacy and taking the relevant measures to safeguard their Personal Data in accordance with applicable data protection legislation. We have provided this Privacy Notice to help you, the user, understand how we collect, use and protect your information when you use Dubai DET’s Visit Dubai mobile application (our “App”). Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it.

Please note that Dubai DET acts as a controller of your Personal Data processed in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

This Privacy Notice uses the following key terms:

• Non-Personally Identifiable Information: information that is recorded about users so that it no longer reflects or references an individually identifiable user.
• Personal Data: any information which you provide to us which directly or indirectly personally identifies you, such as your name, email address, billing information, credit card information, or other data which can be reasonably linked to such information by Dubai DET, such as information we associate with any accounts you may hold with Dubai DET.
• Sensitive Personal Data: special categories of Personal Data, specifically, information about your race, ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, health and genetics, biometrics (where used for ID purposes), and criminal convictions.

We collect a range of Personal Data to deliver and improve our services:

• Personal Data we receive through your interaction with our App, for example your name, contact details, profile photograph, picture/video, country of residence, purpose of visit, your trip itinerary, language preferences and your interests etc.,
• Sensitive Personal Data we receive:
• through organising trips for you for example health data relating to allergies,
• Geolocation information while you use the App to help with directions, nearby and estimated travel time between attractions,
• Technological data including:
• Internet protocol (IP) address,
• Geolocation information,
• device-specific information (such as your hardware model, operating system version, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information including phone number),
• device event information such as crashes, system activity, hardware settings, language, and the date and time of your request,
• cookies or similar tracking technologies to uniquely identify users on our App and to gather information about how users interact with the App,
• information locally on your device using mechanisms such as application data caches,
• we may also collect and process location information through various technologies such as Wi-Fi access points and cell towers,
• When information is associated with any of your accounts on our App, we treat it as Personal Data. For more information on technological data, please see our section on ‘Direct Marketing and Cookies’

Directly from you

We collect your Personal Data directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impractical to do so. We do this in a number of ways including:

• when you register or sign-up to our App;
• when you share or create any content or information on our App;
• through your access and use of our App;
• when you save your favourite spots and create your personalised itineraries;

• when you purchase tickets to experiences and attractions;

• during conversations between you and our representatives; and/or
• when you subscribe to receive offers, newsletters and marketing information

From third parties

We may also collect Personal Data from third parties including:

• third party companies such as law enforcement agencies and other government entities;

• social media accounts (Facebook, Google, Twitter or Apple ID) that you have linked to use of our App via single-sign-on;

• organisers or co-organisers of events, schemes or initiatives as well as service providers assisting with organising such events, schemes and initiatives;
• advertisers;
• mailing lists; or
• contractors and business partners

By automated means

When you use the App, we may collect information about you by automated means, such as information about the aspects of the App that you use or visit and the time of the day you access the App.

Applicable data protection laws state that we can use your Personal Data only where we have a valid purpose and legal basis. This is also applicable when we share your Personal Data with third parties.

• Below you can find more information on the purposes for which your Personal Data is collected and processed, as well as the legal bases that allow us to do so.

Purposes and legal bases table

For more information on your rights regarding your Personal Data please refer to the “Your Rights” section.

When you try to purchase tickets to experiences or attractions through our App you will be directed to our Visit Dubai website to complete such purchase. If you book tickets on our App, please read the Visit Dubai website Privacy Notice.

Dubai Calendar is the official calendar of year-round events happening in Dubai, where event organizers may list events and ticket sellers may offer tickets for such events for users of the Dubai Calendar to purchase.

If you use Dubai Calendar (on the website or through the App) please read the Visit Dubai Privacy Notice and Dubai Calendar Privacy Notice.

Marketing

Where you have indicated your consent or we have a legitimate interest, we (and permitted third parties) may contact you for direct marketing purposes via post, telephone, email, SMS/MMS, push notifications, and social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp.

This marketing may relate to:

• additional products and services we (or permitted third parties) feel may interest you;
• information about other goods and services we offer that are similar to those that you have already used or enquired about; and
• upcoming events, competitions, schemes, initiatives, promotions and new products/services or other opportunities as well as those of selected third parties.

If you are an existing customer, we will only contact you by electronic means without seeking your consent in advance (including but not limited to telephone, e-mail, SMS/MMS, push notifications, and social medial channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp) with information about services similar to those which were the subject of a previous dealing with you.

How to unsubscribe from receiving marketing communication?

If you no longer wish to receive marketing communications from us you may unsubscribe by following the unsubscribe link in our email communications or by requesting us to remove you and your Personal Data collected electronically from our database(s) by emailing privacy@dubaidet.ae.

Push Notifications 

If you are a registered user of the App, you may receive push notification. With your consent, we may send push notifications or alerts to your mobile device even when you are not logged in. At any time, you can manage your push notification preferences or deactivate these notifications at any time by turning off the notification settings in the App or in the Device Settings of your mobile device.

Cookies

In some cases, we may also collect your Personal Data through the use of cookies and other similar technologies (like web beacons, scripts and software development kits). When you access our App, we may send a “cookie” (which is a small summary file containing a unique ID number) to your device. This enables us to recognize your device and customise the online experience. It also helps us keep track of services you view, so that we can send you news about those services. We also use cookies to measure traffic patterns, to determine which areas of our App have been visited, and to measure transaction patterns in the aggregate.

We also use Software Development Kits that function like third-party cookies and pixel tags, but operate in the mobile app environment where cookies and pixel tags cannot function as effectively. We may install pieces of code (the SDK) provided by our partners (such as analytical providers) in our App for these partners to monitor and analyse the use and performance of our App and services.

For further information on the cookies we use, please refer to our Cookie Notice.

We are not responsible for the practices employed by third-party websites or services linked to or from our App, including the information or content contained therein or the data collection practices or privacy policies therein. Please remember that when you use a link to go from our Apps to third-party websites, our Privacy Notice does not apply to third-party websites or services. Your browsing and interaction on any third-party websites or service, including those that have a link or advertisement on our App, are subject to that third party’s own rules and policies. In addition, you agree that we are not responsible and we do not have control over any third-parties that you authorize to access your user content. If you are using a third-party website or service (like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Instagram, or Google groups etc.) and you allow such a third-party access to your user content you do so at your own risk. This Privacy Notice does not apply to information we collect by other means (including offline) or from other sources other than through our App.

With our affiliates

When we collect and process your Personal Data, we might also share your Personal Data with our Dubai DET affiliates who may sometimes need to access your information to provide services to you on our behalf. Because Dubai DET is passionate about your privacy, we have made a decision to ensure the same level privacy protection throughout our business.

Legally, other Dubai DET affiliates will then be acting as ‘data processors’ to process your Personal Data on our behalf and based on our specific instructions. These processors will also be subject to data protection laws and will only process your Personal Data in compliance with our Privacy Notice and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

With ticket sellers

When you try to purchase tickets to experiences or attractions through our App you will be directed to our Visit Dubai website to complete the purchase. Your Personal Data will be shared with ticket sellers that are responsible for that particular reservation. The data shared will be limited to those strictly necessary to complete your reservation or purchase. The Ticket Seller’s Privacy Notice will separately apply to all the information that you provide when purchasing tickets or registering yourself for attractions. At the time of purchasing tickets, the Ticket Seller's Privacy Notice, or a link to it, will be provided.

With your consent for marketing purposes

We will share Personal Data with companies, organizations or individuals outside of Dubai DET (and the parties and bodies referenced in this section of the Privacy Notice) for marketing purposes when we have your express opt-in consent to do so. If you have specifically consented to share your Personal Data with one or more of such third party companies, organizations or individuals outside of Dubai DET identified on our website for the purposes set out in such consent, each such third party will act as a data controller in relation to the data that we supply to it; and upon contacting you, each such third party will supply to you a copy of its own privacy notice, which will govern that third party's use of your Personal Data.

For external processing

We provide Personal Data to our affiliates or other trusted businesses or persons to process it for us, based on our instructions and in compliance with our Privacy Notice and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures. Our affiliates are located worldwide, in particular in the UAE, US and EEA countries. Examples of organisations we share your data with for this purpose are:

• Airlines
• Hotels
• Attractions
• Tour operators and events' organisers
• Organisations running competitions on our behalf, for example newspapers and websites
• Organisations sending you information about offers or products
• Organisations that Dubai DET collaborates with in order to arrange and deliver programmes, competitions, and other initiatives

With our partners

We may share Non-Personally Identifiable Information publicly and with our partners – like publishers, advertisers or connected websites. For example, we may share information publicly to show trends about the general use of our services. Examples of organisations we share your data with for this purpose are:

• Analytics companies who use anonymised data to demonstrate performance

Where required by applicable law

We might disclose Personal Data when required by any applicable law, or in good faith believe such action is necessary or desirable to comply with the applicable laws, or to protect or defend the rights or property of Dubai DET, our App, any of our other platforms or its users. We will only fulfil requests to share Personal Data where we are permitted to do so in accordance with applicable law or regulation.

• National security agencies, for example Dubai Police and other departments of the Government of Dubai.

With selected third parties

In addition to this, we may also share your Personal Data and Non-Personally Identifiable Information with certain trusted business partners or persons for the following purposes:

We may share Non-Personally Identifiable Information publicly and with our business partners – like publishers, advertisers or connected websites. For example, we may share information publicly to show trends about the general use of our services.

We may disclose Personal Data when required by any applicable law, or in good faith believe such action is necessary or desirable to comply with the applicable laws or to protect or defend the rights or property of Dubai DET, our App, any of our other platforms, or its users. We may disclose your Personal Data to third parties in the following circumstances:

• in the event that Dubai DET sells or buys any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your Personal Data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets;
• if Dubai DET or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case Personal Data held by it will be one of the transferred assets;
• agents, service providers and third parties who provide services relating to the purpose for which the Personal Data is collected including data processing services, whether or not such agents, service providers and third parties are based in the UAE;
• any person who is under a duty of confidentiality and has undertaken to keep such data confidential; and
• if you use our Dubai Calendar service (in accordance with the "Dubai Calendar" section of this Privacy Notice).

Our third parties are located worldwide, in particular in the UAE, US and EEA countries.

Where we share your Personal Data, within Dubai DET or with third parties we implement robust contractual agreements with third parties to confirm that your Personal Data will be handled in compliance with relevant data protection laws, for example, the GDPR or the UK GDPR. Where we do this, we will use appropriate safeguards to protect any Personal Data being transferred.

We use approved Standard Contractual Clauses for the international transfer of Personal Data collected in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland.

You can find information on Standard Contractual Clauses on the EU Commission and the ICO websites.

The data that we collect from you may be transferred to, stored and otherwise processed on servers located outside the country in which you reside and which may be located in secure data centres worldwide, including the UAE, US and EEA countries, and Personal Data may be stored in any one of them.

We will retain your Personal Data for the period necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this Privacy Notice. When assessing these periods, we carefully examine our need to collect Personal Data at all and if we establish a relevant need we only retain it for the shortest possible period to realise the purpose of collection unless a longer retention period is required by contractual obligation or law.

Under certain circumstances, you have a number of rights with regard to your Personal Data that we must comply with. The rights you have are:

The right to be informed

You have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your Personal Data by us or, on our behalf, by a third party.

The right to access

You have the right to obtain from us confirmation as to whether or not your Personal Data is being processed and, if so, the right to access that Personal Data. This right does not apply where it would adversely affect the rights and freedoms of another person.

The right to data transfer or data portability

Where you have provided Personal Data for us to use with your consent* or as required for us to fulfil our contractual obligations to you, you have the right to receive Personal Data that you have provided from us in a structured, commonly used format in order for you to provide that Personal Data to another organisation for use as you so wish. This right does not apply where we are using the Personal Data to carry out a public duty (e.g. security or compliance).

*This includes sensitive Personal Data such as biometric, health or political or religious beliefs provided with your explicit consent.

The right to rectification

You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate Personal Data and we must comply in a timely manner. Taking into account the purposes of the processing, you shall have the right to have incomplete Personal Data completed.

The right to erasure

You have the right to request the erasure of your Personal Data, in our possession, in a timely manner.

The right to restrict processing

You have the right to request the restriction of use of your Personal Data, where the data is not being used for the purpose it was collected for.

The right to object to processing

You have the right to object at any time to our use of your Personal Data where (i) the processing is carried out for direct marketing purposes including profiling relating to direct marketing; (ii) the processing is carried out for statistical surveys purposes; or (iii) the use is based on legitimate interest**

* ‘Legitimate interest’ is a lawful basis for processing Personal Data where the use of where (i) the use of data has a limited impact on you, (ii) you should reasonably expect us to use your data in such a way, or, (iii) where we do not deem it appropriate to contact you with disruptive consent requests.

The right to not be subject to automated decision making

You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal or similarly significantly affect you.

The right to complain to a supervisory authority

You have the right to submit a formal written complaint to a regulator in your country who can resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of Personal Data that we cannot resolve with you directly.

The right to withdraw consent

When we process your Personal Data based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw it and inform us that you no longer wish us to collect, store, or use your Personal Data, where there is not a business or legal reason for us to do so.

Dubai DET has procedures in place to ensure that it deals with any requests it receives in an efficient manner. You can exercise any of the above rights by contacting us at: privacy@dubaidet.ae

We might need to ask you to provide some additional Personal Data in order to confirm your identity and to properly identify you throughout our systems.

We will take all reasonable steps to protect the Personal Data that we hold from misuse, loss, or unauthorized access, including by means of firewalls, password access and secure servers. In particular, we review our information collection, storage and processing practices, including physical security measures, to guard against unauthorized access to systems, and restrict access to Personal Data to our employees, contractors and agents who need to know that information in order to process it for us, and who are subject to strict contractual confidentiality obligations and may be disciplined or terminated if they fail to meet these obligations.

Unfortunately, there is always risk involved in sending information through any channel over the internet. You send information over the internet entirely at your own risk. Although we will do our best to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted over the internet and we do not warrant the security of any information, including Personal Data, which you transmit to us over the internet.

If you suspect any misuse or loss of, or unauthorized access to, your Personal Data, please let us know immediately.

We regularly review our compliance with our Privacy Notice. When we receive formal written complaints, we will contact the person who made the complaint to follow up. We work with the appropriate regulatory authorities, including local data protection authorities, to resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of Personal Data that we cannot resolve with our users directly.

In the future, we may revise or amend this Privacy Notice at any time by amending this page. All changes will be made here so you will always know what information we gather, how we might use that information and whether we will disclose it to anyone. Some of the provisions contained in this Privacy Notice may also be superseded by provisions or notices published elsewhere on our Websites.

We will inform you of any changes to the Privacy Notice via pop-up, email communication or a push notification via our Mobile Applications.

Your privacy matters to us so if you have any questions regarding your privacy, please contact us at privacy@dubaidet.ae.

If you have any general enquiries, complaints or suggestions, please contact us at info@dubaidet.ae . This Privacy Notice should be read together with our Terms of Use and any other documents referred to in it.

Last Modified: 23 May 2023

Archived versions:

10 May 2023 - Download PDF