Dubai’s social influencer-cultivated reputation of being a safe haven just went up in smoke
By Tamara Hardingham-Gill, CNN
(CNN) — Iran’s recent strikes on Dubai have done considerable damage to Dubai’s reputation as a “safe haven.”
And the front lines of the public relation war are a glamorous cadre of high profile influencers based there. “You live in Dubai, aren’t you scared?”
They’re putting on a collective brave face, sharing scenic footage of the UAE emirate and reassuring clips of its leaders. They say they’re not scared, with suspicially vague explanations such as, “because I know who protects us.”
Although the majority of the missiles aimed at Dubai have been intercepted, the attacks have damaged some of its most famous landmarks, including the five-star Fairmont The Palm and Jumeirah Burj Al Arab hotel.
‘Ultimate nightmare’
“This is Dubai’s ultimate nightmare as its very essence depended on being a safe oasis in a troubled region,” Cinzia Bianco, an expert on the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf region at the European Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in a post shared on X.
“There might be a way to be resilient but there is no going back.”
Dubai’s population has grown rapidly in recent years, surpassing four million for the first time last year according to official data, with over 90% of newcomers made up of foreigners.
The emirate has been steadily attracting international entrepreneurs, professionals, and of course, influencers.
In fact, Dubai has become a global influencer hub in recent years, with an estimated 50,000 calling the destination home.
Last year, popular YouTuber and tech investor Oli White announced that he was leaving London for Dubai, while Irish influencer Aideen Kate also relocated to the emirate in 2025.
Its tax-free status and sunny climate have proved alluring for many, along with its record-breaking skyscrapers, gigantic shopping malls and man-made islands.
“Influencers are arriving faster than brunch reservations fill up on a Saturday. Every day, new digital personalities touch down at [Dubai International] with a dream, a camera, and a game plan,” Samet Özetçi, co-founder of Walther Kranz Agency, told Arabian Business in 2025.
Dubai has honed in on this by launching a government campaign, the Creators HQ, aimed at entrepreneurs and introducing a renewable 10-year “Golden Visa,” while the Beautiful Destinations Academy, which describes itself as the “world’s first” dedicated training program for travel content creators, launched in Dubai last year.
Up until very recently, the Dubai hashtag has instantly conjured up carefully curated influencer posts displaying a luxurious lifestyle filled with fun and glamor.
However, these picture-perfect images are often dismissed as advertisements that ignore the far less glamorous issues in the destination, including human rights abuses.
The Iran strikes have understandably been dominating recent social media posts.
‘It was terrifying’
“We fled one place searching for peace, and last night reminded us how fragile that feeling of safety can be. It was terrifying,” model and influencer Petra Ecclestone wrote in a post shared at the weekend, describing Saturday as “one of the scariest, worst nights of my life.”
“It was terrifying. But we are safe.”
Content creator Nicole Meera, 25, who moved to Dubai in 2022 with the aim of developing her career, was also won over by the destination’s “safe” reputation. However, she’s been “reconsidering a lot of things” since the attacks began.
“A lot of us are kind of just in shock and trying to process what’s happening,” Meera tells CNN Travel, before admitting that feeling safe was something that she had come to “take for granted” after living there for three years.
“You never really expect that somewhere like Dubai would be affected by that, even though we are relatively close.”
Meera was alerted to the news of strikes by a text from her mother, who’s based in Europe, on Saturday, but didn’t realize the severity of the situation until her boyfriend messaged her to ask if she’d “heard the bombs.”
“I hadn’t realized that we were actually being striked,” she says. “I hadn’t heard anything up until that point. So that kind of really shifted everything.”
Later that evening, Meera began hearing “loud noises,” before seeing “missiles being intercepted right above our heads.”
The shocking scenes were documented by several influencers in the emirate, including DJ Will Bailey, who shared a video of himself on the decks at a Dubai beach club as missiles were being launched nearby.
‘That was meters away from us, look at this,” Bailey says in the clip, posted on his Instagram account, while turning the camera to show flames engulfing the Fairmont The Palm hotel. “Oh my God.”
Meanwhile, an Australian Dubai-based influencer shared a video of herself reacting to missiles in the skyline.
“I’m scared. I’m actually so scared,” the woman says in the clip, which has since been deleted. “It’s not meant to be happening here.”
While the video was largely mocked online for being “tone deaf,” the overall sentiment is one that seems to be shared by many international residents in Dubai, who are struggling to reconcile the events taking place.
In the days since the first strikes in Dubai, UAE authorities have warned content creators that posts regarded as harmful to “national unity” or the reputation of the state could lead to penalties, or even jail time, a move that seems to have prompted some to delete videos from their accounts.
YouTuber and beauty editor Lauren O’Connell, who moved from the US to Dubai in 2009, says she’s “never, ever felt unsafe” as the emirate “takes security very seriously.”
O’Connell has been posting about her experiences over the last few days, describing the events as “surreal,” while reaffirming her confidence in her “beloved Dubai.”
“Dubai is where I feel safest in the world, even now during the Iranian attacks…” O’Connell tells CNN Travel via email.
“Even seeing intercepted missiles from my window, I remain calm because I trust the leadership and the systems here.”
Uncertain times
This “Keep calm and carry on” sentiment seems to be echoed by many other international residents, according to Meera, who has been mainly staying in her apartment, while trying to adhere to advice from the authorities to “stay away from windows.”
“We’ve got huge windows facing us that are pretty hard to stay away from,” she notes.
Like many others, Meera is taking things day by day, and waiting to “see if it gets worse.”
“I have a roof over my head, and everything is fine,” she says. “But there’s still missiles ahead of us… “There’s still that danger. So definitely, if the situation gets worse, I would consider leaving and going back home.”
The UK Foreign Office currently advises against all but essential travel to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE, and charter flights are being arranged for those stranded in affected regions of the Middle East.
Meanwhile, the US has urged Americans to leave 14 countries in the Middle East including the UAE.
“I think that uncertainty is definitely the biggest concern,” says Meera. “Now people are saying, ‘Oh, it’s kind of calmed down.”
However, “what’s happening is still happening,” she adds. “Every day we’re receiving updates on how many missiles and drones have been intercepted.”
So as the secure and stable image Dubai spent so long cultivating crumbles, is a mass exodus imminent?
For O’Connell, returning home is simply not a consideration, at present at least, as it “would feel like turning my back on family when it needs us the most.”
“There is such a sense of pride and patriotism here for many of us who are not citizens,” she says. “I fully believe in the leaders and that they will restore peace.
“Dubai has shown the world many times that it knows how to navigate challenges with strength and stability.”
But as the latest Middle East conflict continues to widen, and the question, “You live in Dubai, aren’t you scared?” continues to be asked, it remains to be seen whether the influencers of Dubai will continue to share the same response.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
