14 September 2026
Miral will invest more than AED 12 billion across Yas Island in Abu Dhabi over the next five years, according to an announcement published by the Abu Dhabi Media Office on Monday 14 September 2026. The programme covers three areas: expansion of the existing theme parks and attractions, new immersive rides and experiences, and a larger hotel offer with new rooms and upgrades to the current accommodation portfolio. Miral stated that the investment is separate from the previously announced Disney theme park resort on the island. Gulf News reported the same day that the overall room count on Yas Island is expected to rise by roughly 30-35% over the five years. Names of individual projects, the number of new attractions and rooms, and opening dates were not disclosed.
What Miral announced
The release sets a spending envelope and a direction, not a list of projects. These are the parameters that were published.
| Parameter | What was announced |
|---|---|
| Investment | More than AED 12 billion |
| Period | The next five years |
| Location | Yas Island, Abu Dhabi |
| Theme parks and attractions | Expansions and enhancements of existing parks and attractions, new immersive rides and experiences |
| Hospitality | New hotel rooms and an upgraded accommodation portfolio; room count on the island expected to grow by roughly 30-35% (Gulf News) |
| Disney theme park resort | Separate project, not part of the AED 12 billion |
| Policy framework | Abu Dhabi Tourism Strategy 2030 |
| Not disclosed | Project names, number of attractions and rooms, contractors, opening dates |
His Excellency Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of Miral, said the investment reflects the company’s commitment to Abu Dhabi’s long-term vision, and that over the next five years it will introduce new experiences and expand the hospitality and leisure offer to meet evolving visitor expectations. The release also lists job creation and skills development in the tourism sector among the aims of the programme.
Separate from Disney: two investment tracks on one island
The Disney line is the most important clarification in the release. In May 2025 Disney and Miral announced a Disney theme park resort on Yas Island, to be developed, built and operated by Miral, with Disney Imagineers leading the creative design. No opening date has been announced. The AED 12 billion programme runs next to that project, so the island now has two parallel tracks: a new resort, and a five-year upgrade of the parks and hotels that already operate around it.
The release does not say whether other projects announced earlier for the island are counted inside the new envelope. Two of them are already under construction. Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi is building three Harry Potter lands, Diagon Alley, Hogwarts and the Forbidden Forest, with construction targeted for completion in 2029, as described in our article on the Harry Potter lands at Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi. Sphere Abu Dhabi, located between Yas Mall and SeaWorld, is also due for completion in 2029, see our Sphere Abu Dhabi construction update.
What already operates on Yas Island
The money goes into an established leisure district rather than an empty site. Yas Island is home to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Yas Waterworld, Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, SeaWorld Yas Island and CLYMB, alongside Yas Marina, the Yas Bay Waterfront and Etihad Arena. Zayed International Airport is a few minutes away, and Miral names this connectivity among the advantages of the location.
Miral’s management shared several operating indicators with Gulf News alongside the announcement:
- Hotel occupancy. Hotels on Yas Island reached 92% occupancy in August, described as one of the busiest months the destination has recorded.
- Annual passes. Sales were intentionally capped this year and still grew 20% year on year.
- India. Miral welcomed 1 million visitors from India in 2025, with growth of roughly 20-25% year on year, which makes India one of the company’s most important international markets.
These are company figures quoted by the press rather than published statistics, and the release itself gives no visitor totals for the island.
How the plan fits Abu Dhabi Tourism Strategy 2030
Miral ties the programme to the Abu Dhabi Tourism Strategy 2030, set out by the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi in April 2024. The strategy fixes the following targets for the emirate.
| Indicator | 2023 | Target for 2030 |
|---|---|---|
| Visitors, overnight and same-day | Nearly 24 million | 39.3 million |
| International overnight visitors | About 3.8 million | 7.2 million |
| Hotel rooms | 34,000 | 52,000 |
| Travel and tourism contribution to GDP | About AED 49 billion | AED 90 billion a year |
| New jobs in tourism | No baseline published | About 178,000 by 2030 |
The room target is the context for the hospitality part of the Yas Island plan. Moving the emirate from 34,000 to 52,000 rooms means about 18,000 additional rooms by 2030, and Miral has not said how many of them it will build on Yas Island. To reach the 2030 visitor figure, the strategy assumes growth of 7% a year.
What the announcement does not change
- No project list, contractor, tender or procurement timetable was published.
- No opening dates were given for new rides, park extensions or hotels.
- No regulation, licence requirement, fee or visa rule changed. Company registration, trade licensing and residence procedures in Abu Dhabi stay as they are.
- The Disney resort remains a separate project, and its timeline has not been announced.
What this means for businesses in the UAE
A five-year capital programme of this size is delivered through contractors, suppliers and operators. For companies already working in the UAE, the relevant groups are clear: construction and fit-out subcontractors, ride and technology suppliers, hotel operators and hospitality staffing firms, food and beverage concepts, retail tenants, event producers, and service providers in facility management, security and transport.
The practical question is eligibility at the moment a project is tendered. Large developers buy through registered vendors, and registration starts with a trade licence whose activities match the scope of work. A licence issued for general trading does not cover fit-out contracting, and a free zone licence does not automatically allow work for clients on the mainland. These choices are made at company registration, and they are easier to get right before a tender than during one. Our guide to company formation in the UAE explains the difference between mainland and free zone structures and the documents each requires.
The second point is staffing. Hotels, parks and venues are labour intensive: the UAE attractions industry supported 69,100 jobs in 2024, according to IAAPA and Oxford Economics, as covered in our review of the UAE attractions industry, and Tourism Strategy 2030 counts on about 178,000 new tourism jobs in Abu Dhabi. Each hire from abroad means an employment visa, a medical test, an Emirates ID and a labour contract, and the number of visas a company can sponsor depends on its licence and premises.
Checklist for companies preparing for Yas Island projects
- Check that the licence activities match the intended work: contracting, fit-out, hospitality, food and beverage, events or technology supply.
- Choose between an Abu Dhabi mainland licence and a free zone structure based on who the client is and where the work is performed.
- Keep vendor registration documents current: trade licence, VAT registration certificate, company profile and project references.
- Check how many employment visas the licence and premises allow before committing to staff-heavy contracts.
- Keep an active UAE corporate bank account, since contract payments and vendor onboarding run through it.
How Atlant Capital can help
We handle the procedural side of working in this market. Through our company setup service we register companies on the mainland and in the free zones, choosing the activity codes and jurisdiction that match the contracts a business intends to pursue. We arrange work visas and residence permits for owners and staff and support corporate bank account opening. Accounting, audit, VAT and corporate tax filings are handled by licensed accounting firms from our partner network. We do not act as a procurement agent for Miral or any developer, and we do not promise contract awards.
Conclusion
Miral’s programme of more than AED 12 billion is a five-year commitment to extend what already operates on Yas Island: more rides, larger parks and a hotel room count expected to grow by roughly 30-35%. It runs alongside the separate Disney resort, as well as the Harry Potter lands and Sphere Abu Dhabi, where construction is due to finish in 2029. The release gives the envelope and the direction but not the project list, so nothing changes procedurally for a UAE business today. For a company that wants to work on these projects, the preparation is the same whatever the list turns out to be: a licence with the right activities, visa capacity and vendor documents in order.
Source: Abu Dhabi Media Office, Gulf News.
FAQ
How much is Miral investing in Yas Island?
Miral will invest more than AED 12 billion across Yas Island over the next five years, according to an announcement published by the Abu Dhabi Media Office on 14 September 2026. The programme covers expansions of existing theme parks and attractions, new immersive rides and experiences, and new hotel rooms with upgrades to the accommodation portfolio.
Is the AED 12 billion Yas Island investment part of the Disney project?
No. Miral stated that the investment is separate from the previously announced Disney theme park resort on Yas Island. The Disney resort was announced in May 2025, is being developed, built and operated by Miral as a separate project, and has no announced opening date.
How many hotel rooms will be added on Yas Island?
Miral did not disclose a number of rooms. Gulf News reported that the overall room count on Yas Island is expected to increase by roughly 30-35% over the next five years. For the emirate as a whole, Abu Dhabi Tourism Strategy 2030 targets 52,000 hotel rooms by 2030, up from 34,000 in 2023.
Does the Miral investment change any rules for companies in the UAE?
No. It is an investment announcement, not a regulatory change: no new rule, fee or licensing requirement was introduced, and no project list or tender timetable was published. For contractors, suppliers and hospitality operators, the practical preparation is a trade licence with matching activities, vendor registration documents and visa capacity for staff.
