This weekend, hundreds of thousands of runners will take part in the Dubai Run, the Emirate’s largest mass participation event and part of the Dubai Fitness Challenge, a month-long initiative to inspire healthier, more active lifestyles. Driven by national development plans, Middle Eastern nations have made significant progress in promoting physical wellbeing and participation on a large scale, not just through flagship events like this, but through long-term digital strategies designed to keep people moving throughout the year.
Across the Gulf, governments and sports councils are investing heavily in digital innovation to make health and fitness more accessible.
Saudi Arabia
The Saudi Sports for All Federation (SFA) is the primary body responsible for the development of community sports in Saudi Arabia and is tasked with achieving Vision 2030 targets around raising physical activity levels across the Kingdom. In 2020, SFA launched its own app to serve as a digital hub for all health initiatives and community groups, as well as wellness content & event information.
The app also features interactive elements such as tracker data integration, with over 20 billion steps tracked by users via the app to date, plus challenges and a rewards programme. Planned features include further gamification options, event ticketing and volunteer management.
UAE
The Abu Dhabi 360 App was launched in late 2022, by the Abud Dhabi Sports Council in partnership with leading global sports agency CSM, to enable all Abu Dhabi citizens to “achieve physical, social, and mental wellness through a personal, attainable journey”. The app offers personalised workout programmes, healthy recipes, mental wellness techniques and movement tracking.
Dubai is looking to follow suit and last year announced a memorandum of understanding with international fitness technology experts YoHealth, to build a dedicated mobile app for those practising sports and physical activities in Dubai. The app will be targeted to all ages and nationalities of Dubai’s community, providing the information and motivation for residents to achieve a healthier and more energetic lifestyle. It will also bring AI-powered sports and wellness programmes to schools, empowering the younger generation to get fit and active.
UAE Vision 2031
UAE has a national sports strategy as part of its Vision 2031 plan. This serves as a national directive for individual emirates like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, who have their own Sports Councils that operate semi-autonomously to achieve their own emirate’s vision, but still in line with the framework of overarching national sports policy.
There are a number of shared strategic pillars with Saudi such as promoting participation, investing in the sporting infrastructure and developing elite talent. There is also a strong focus on social impact, community initiatives and promoting opportunities for women and youth in sport.
Digital innovation is at the heart of their ambitions with a drive to use the latest technology to improve governance, participation and the identification and development of talent. At an individual Emirates level, there are localised initiatives around sustainability, inclusion and social responsibility.
Qatar
In the build up to the 2022 World Cup, Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health, in collaboration with FIFA and The World Health Organization (WHO) released Gen Move, a mobile app that gamified physical activity in order to encourage participation. Aimed at 8–15-year-olds, the app combined AI with movement tracking to provide vigorous games that required physical interaction.
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