Tickets on sale for official UAE National Day at Expo City

The UAE’s official 52nd National Day will be celebrated on Sunday December 2, 2023, and this year will see celebrations hosted at Expo City Dubai, organizers have announced. UAE National Day and a holiday for the event, also known as Union Day, will fall on Saturday December 2.

And the official ceremony for the holiday, which marks the unification of all seven Emirates into one nation, will be held at Expo City from Tuesday December 5 to Tuesday December 12.

The location, which is hosting COP28 between Thursday November 30 until Tuesday December 12, will put on a show that will tell the story of the UAE’s heritage and will focus on the country’s efforts towards sustainability.

Open to the public, tickets are on sale now. Entry to the daily event, which starts at 6pm, cost Dhs 300 per person. Children under three years can enter for free. Tickets can also be bought from the Union Day website. Doors open at 4pm for the show that starts at 6pm. All ticket holders must be seated by 5.40pm “due to the unique nature of the show”. Seating is on a first come, first served basis, with no specific seats allotted at the time of booking. There will be projections, performances and storytelling that will shed light on the UAE’s vision of a sustainable future.

Symbolized through various elements of traditional Sadu weaving, the show will “illustrate the legacy of our ancestors and the relationship between tradition and technology, reflecting the shared commitment to nurturing and preserving our interconnected world”.

The show will be in Arabic and English, supported by “simultaneous translations” in French, Mandarin, Spanish and Russian.

Public and private sector workers in the UAE will get a three-day weekend off for National Day from Saturday December 2 to Monday December 4.

Commemoration Day is observed on Thursday November 30 but the public holiday for the private sector is on Friday December 1, National Day will fall on Saturday December 2, followed by an additional day on Sunday December 3.