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  • Museum of the Future

Museum of the Future closure begins September 1 before 2027 Dubai relaunch

Dubai’s Museum of the Future closure takes effect on September 1, when the landmark torus on Sheikh Zayed Road shuts its current

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Dubai Named World's Most Instagrammed City
  • Tourism

Dubai is the most photographed city in the world, according to a new ranking of how often destinations appear on social media and in search results.

The study comes from Players Time, which built a scoring system it calls an Instagrammability Score. It combines hashtag counts on Instagram and TikTok with monthly Google search volume, then scales the result from 0 to 100.

Dubai scored a perfect 100. The city has been tagged 147 million times on Instagram and more than 43 million times on TikTok. It draws 3.43 million Google searches a month.

The Burj Khalifa took first place in the separate landmarks ranking. The tower has 10.1 million tagged posts and 1.1 million monthly searches. That puts it well ahead of the Grand Canyon at 696,000 searches and the Eiffel Tower at 662,000.

That result is worth sitting with. The Burj Khalifa opened in 2010. It is now photographed and searched more than monuments that have been standing for centuries. The Eiffel Tower came second with a score of 73.22. The Taj Mahal and Machu Picchu both landed in the top group, with search volumes between roughly 854,000 and 928,000 a month.

Europe holds 8 of the top 20 landmark places. The Sagrada Familia and the Colosseum sit in that group, with monthly searches running from about 313,000 to 737,000.

Some places are ranked for the experience, not the building

A few entries in the landmarks list are not really buildings at all.

Shibuya Scramble Crossing in Tokyo generated more than 6.57 million posts. Up to 3,000 people cross at once, and most of the photos are taken from inside the crowd rather than from a viewing point. Times Square in New York works the same way, with 5.82 million posts.

The oddest entry is the DUMBO viewpoint near the Brooklyn Bridge, which has passed 4 million Instagram posts on its own. Search demand for it is modest. People are not planning trips there. They walk past, take the photo, and the number keeps climbing.

London posts more, Barcelona searches more

Among cities, London and Paris follow Dubai. London recorded the highest raw hashtag volume in the study at 192.2 million posts. New York City reached 165.6 million and Istanbul 153.7 million.

Barcelona is the outlier. The city recorded 97 million tagged posts and 23 million monthly Google searches, which is close to seven times Dubai’s search volume.

That figure deserves a caveat the study does not offer. “Barcelona” is also the name of one of the most followed football clubs on the planet. A raw keyword count cannot tell a fan looking for match results apart from a traveller looking for a hotel. The same problem may explain why San Diego, Santiago and Kochi appear in a ranking of visual destinations despite far lower travel profiles.

Players Time has not published the weighting behind its score, so the gap between hashtag volume and search demand is difficult to check independently. Hashtag counts are also self-reported by the platforms and change constantly.

The Dubai finding survives those questions better than most. The city leads on both measures at once, and it does so against capitals that have had a hundred years’ head start on accumulating images. The Burj Khalifa did the same thing at landmark level in sixteen years.

  • 3 min read
Emirates Economy Class upgrade
  • Emirates

The latest Emirates Economy Class upgrade tackles a problem every long-haul traveller knows: falling asleep upright and waking with a sore neck. The company has announced that it has fitted a new headrest, called U-Dream, onto Economy seats. It supports your head and neck during sleep, and Emirates says you can leave the travel pillow at home.

What the U-Dream headrest does

The U-Dream headrest is a multi-way adjustable design. Padded leather side wings fold inward to cradle your head and neck. That keeps your head from dropping forward or tipping to the side while you sleep. It also moves up and down and tilts, so it lines up with passengers of different heights and body types.

The headrest is part of the Safran Seats Z400 Economy seat. It has been independently tested and certified to meet the safety standards of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. Emirates says it is the first airline in the world to fit this technology at scale, bringing a level of support usually found in premium cabins.

Why this Emirates Economy Class upgrade matters for sleep

Standard Economy seats give little side support for the head. Many people pack a neck pillow to cope. This Emirates Economy Class upgrade announced by the company builds that support into the seat itself.

Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline, said:

‘Emirates never rests on its laurels when it comes to customer experience, and we have found a way to significantly improve the comfort for Economy Class passengers, especially those travelling long-haul. The U-Dream changes the game if the person wants to sleep – by supporting the neck in full. No more neck pillows needed. It’s another innovation that shows our commitment to customers and cements our Economy Class as the best.’

The leather surface wipes clean and is sanitised after every flight. Emirates says the headrest is easy to adjust, and cabin crew is trained to help passengers who need a hand.

Where and when you can use it

The U-Dream headrest already flies on three A350 aircraft. Emirates plans to fit every A350 in its fleet by the end of the year. The headrest will also come pre-installed on all 270 Boeing 777X jets the airline has on order.

From 2027, installation begins on retrofitted A380s and Boeing 777s. Over time, the feature reaches much of the long-haul fleet.

The move fits a wider pattern. This Emirates Economy Class upgrade lands during the airline’s multibillion-dollar fleet refurbishment, which has already refreshed cabins across its widebody aircraft. Premium cabins usually get the headlines, so a change aimed squarely at Economy passengers stands out.

For frequent flyers, the practical takeaway is simple. Before you book, check which aircraft runs your route. The seat you get may depend on whether that jet has been fitted yet.

  • 3 min read
Amina Taher is the new Chairwoman
  • Arab Fashion Council

Amina Taher is the new Chairwoman of the Arab Fashion Council, and the fit reads clean. The appointment took effect on 9 July 2026. Taher spent two decades leading brand and communications across aviation, fintech, media and sport. She earned an MBA from London Business School and a master’s from Harvard. Now she takes the top governance seat at a body that speaks for fashion across the 22 nations of the Arab League. Known in the UAE business scene, and her name is familiar. She served as Vice President of Marketing at Etihad Airways, where she helped shape the airline’s global identity. From there, she moved into fintech as Chief Marketing Officer of Wio Bank. That career sits at the crossroads of money, media and brand, which is close to where fashion is heading.

What the Arab Fashion Council built

The Arab Fashion Council spent the past decade turning a thin fashion scene into real infrastructure. It co-founded Dubai Fashion Week with Dubai Design District, and grew it into a platform buyers and press now track. That event sits on the international calendar next to New York, London, Milan and Paris. The Council also pushed Arab designers onto runways that once looked past them. Picture laying track before the trains arrive. The rails are down, and traffic is building. What matters now is speed and direction, and that is where the new leadership comes in.

The gap Taher steps into

Great institutions hit a ceiling when they lean on passion alone. What the Council needs next is weight: government backing, diplomatic reach, and partnerships measured in years rather than seasons. Taher has built that kind of trust across her career, working with public bodies and global brands alike. Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jacob Abrian called her arrival a sign of how far the Council has come, not a shift in course. “Amina Taher’s appointment is not a change of direction,” he said. His point was that the move reflects the standing the Council now holds, and a promise to hold it with more seriousness. That is the room Taher walks into.

What Amina Taher wants for Arab designers

Taher points her focus at the next wave of talent. She wants more room for young Arab designers to reach a global audience and build real businesses. “I am honoured to build on that strong foundation,” she said, crediting the institutions, partnerships and credibility built over the past decade. Her goal is a wider creative economy and more open doors for people entering the field. Amina Taher is the new Chairwoman at a moment when the region’s fashion voice carries serious reach, and she plans to push it further. Growth in the creative economy tends to follow the money and the platforms, and the Council now has both.

What comes next

Taher will present her vision at an invitation-only gala in September 2026. Until then, the plan stays in outline, with the full manifesto still to come. One thing is clear already. In choosing her, the Council made it official: Amina Taher is the new Chairwoman, and she builds for the present and what comes after.

  • 3 min read
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