The second charge on a guest's bill is the municipality fee on the establishment's sales. A 2019 decree cut it from ten per cent to seven, and a September 2025 resolution refunds one hundred per cent of both that fee and the tourism dirham to hotels in designated areas — to the establishment, not the guest. The regulation that imposed it, No. 2 of 2006, does not open on the portal: that number and year serve a different act there, about road repairs. We publish what is provable and do not paraphrase what we have not read.
Verified against official sources on 2026-09-16: the texts of decree No. 27 of 2019, Executive Council resolution No. 68 of 2025 and Local Order No. 6 of 2003 come from the Dubai Legislation Portal (dlp.dubai.gov.ae), attribution to the Supreme Legislation Committee of the Emirate. The portal states that the English version is a translation and that the Arabic text prevails in case of conflict. The rate is given in the wording in which the 2019 decree records it. The portal prints no "in force" status — confirm with the department before calculating. This is not legal advice.
In our analysis of the tourism dirham we named the last gap in the tourism block: the municipality fee on hotel establishments' sales, imposed by Regulation No. 2 of 2006, which we had not read. We close it now — with a caveat that has to be stated plainly.
First, what we could not do
We did not find the text of Regulation 2/2006 on the portal. At the address matching that number and year sits an entirely different act — "Regulation No. (2) of 2006 Concerning Calculation and Collection of the Costs of Repair of Roads Affected by Accidents in the Emirate of Dubai." We checked this by request rather than assumed it: the page opens and contains the roads document.
So one number and year carry two different acts, and the one on hotel sales did not open for us in English on the portal. The practical consequence for a reader: searching "Regulation 2 of 2006 Dubai" will land you on the roads regulation, not on the hotel charge.
For that reason there is nothing below on the calculation base (what counts as "sales" — rooms, food and beverage, everything together), on payment procedure, or on penalties: all of that lives in a text we have not read. We will not invent it.
What is provable: the rate and who changed it
The rate is stated not by the regulation itself but by the decree reducing fees, and it is stated verbatim:
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Rate before reduction | 10% of hotel establishments' sales |
| Rate after reduction | 7% of hotel establishments' sales |
Article 1(b) of decree No. 27 of 2019 reads: the municipality fee imposed on the sales of hotel establishments pursuant to the above-mentioned Regulation No. (2) of 2006 is reduced from ten per cent (10%) to seven per cent (7%). The decree was issued by the Ruler of Dubai on 4 September 2019 and came into force on the day of issue.
A caveat the decree itself carries. Paragraph 1(d) hands to the Supreme Fiscal Committee the determination of the time frames within which these reductions apply. Seven per cent is therefore not a figure declared permanent, but a reduction whose duration the decree leaves to another body. We have not read the committee's resolutions and claim nothing about them.
The September 2025 resolution: one hundred per cent back — but not to the guest
The most recent document in this cluster is Executive Council resolution No. 68 of 2025, issued on 15 September 2025. It approves a financial support initiative, and its definition is worth reading literally: the initiative is the refund of 100% of the municipality fee collected on hotel establishment sales and of the tourism dirham fee.
It is easy to misread, so plainly: this is a refund to the establishment, not a waiver for the guest. The fees continue to be collected and remitted under the existing rules, and are then returned to establishments that qualify. Nothing disappears from the guest's bill.
Eligibility (article 4): the establishment must be located in designated areas — Dubai South, Palm Jebel Ali, Dubai Parks and Resorts, Dubai Islands, or other areas designated by the Department of Economy and Tourism; apply to the department; hold a valid licence; commence operations within three years; and collect and remit the fees properly. The benefit runs for no more than two years, extendable by one.
Termination (article 5): non-renewal of the licence, failure to start operating within the deadlines, non-compliance with collection and remittance, expiry of the benefit period, false information. The refund procedure itself is set by a separate Department of Finance resolution, which we have not read.
Weddings: an old and narrow exception
Local Order No. 6 of 2003, issued on 11 June 2003 by Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum as Chairman of Dubai Municipality, exempts male UAE nationals from the municipality fee when renting hotel function rooms for wedding ceremonies. It repealed Local Order No. 6 of 2002 and instructions of 25 December 1999. This document names no rate at all — it is only about the exception.
Two charges on one bill: how they differ
With the tourism block now complete, the difference between the two charges is clear:
| Feature | Tourism dirham | Municipality fee |
|---|---|---|
| What it is levied on | an occupied room per night | the establishment's sales |
| How it is computed | a fixed amount by category | a share of sales |
| Time cap | thirty consecutive nights | not named in the sources we read |
| Who is named as payer | the main guest | not named in the sources we read |
The third and fourth rows are empty not because no limits exist, but because we have not read the regulation where they might stand. An empty cell here is more honest than a plausible guess.
What we do not claim here
- The calculation base. What exactly counts as "sales" — rooms, restaurants, bars, spa — we do not know, because we have not read Regulation 2/2006. There is not a single line about it here.
- Whether 7% applies today. The 2019 decree expressly handed the duration of the reductions to the Supreme Fiscal Committee; we have not seen its resolutions.
- The refund procedure under the 2025 initiative. It is set by a separate Department of Finance resolution, which we have not read.
- Who the regulator is now. The documents name Dubai Municipality, DTCM and the Department of Economy and Tourism established by Law No. 20 of 2021. We do not describe the succession — it is not in the sources we read.
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