In August, six months into the escalating war between the United States and Iran (and their various regional allies), the global advertising agency M+C Saatchi put out a press release. It had become the “creative agency partner” for the Ras al-Khaimah tourism authority, following “a highly competitive multi-stage pitch process.” Ras al-Khaimah is among the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. Its northern coasts, known for their golden-white-sand beaches and mangrove forests, abut the Strait of Hormuz. At least two dozen vessels, many of them commercial tankers carrying crude oil and gas, have been attacked this month as they’ve tried to pass through the strait. But, war or no war, M+C Saatchi would endeavor to lure tourists here.
The press release noted that the Ras al-Khaimah tourism authority was “one of the region’s most ambitious,” but it did not mention the ongoing conflict centered on the nearby strait. Instead—beneath a photograph of smiling young people sitting on sumptuous rugs and drinking colorful beverages on the edge of a cliff overlooking a strait-like body of water—text announced that M+C Saatchi would be launching “a new destination proposition” for the area over the following three years. The agency had been chosen, it explained, for its “belief in Cultural Power” and its ability to bring together “specialists . . . to deliver connected thinking across every touchpoint.”
A separate M+C Saatchi document—this one internal—was a request for proposals, inviting content creators to come up with “a destination campaign that changes how people think” about the war zone, through “a fresh approach to destination storytelling.” It envisioned a campaign with an “observational, journalistic approach” that “feels more like a beautifully crafted documentary than a tourism commercial.” What kind of documentary, exactly? “Think Anthony Bourdain’s curiosity,” the brief went on, under a photo of Bourdain in sunglasses, leaning out of a train window, alongside stock images of starry skies, ocean swimmers, and a mountain climber on a sweeping ridge. “Space. Discovery. Contrast,” the document continued vaguely. Desired tone? “The emotional honesty of a travel journal.” Project bidders were advised to “be comfortable following something unexpected if it reveals a better truth.” The instructions concluded, “Show us moments that couldn’t happen anywhere else.”
One photographer who saw the internal M+C Saatchi document suspected that it had been created by artificial intelligence. “The Bourdain bit was a dead giveaway for A.I.,” he said. “Like, come on.” He went on, “If they want someone to come up with the creative direction and shoot the campaign—in a war zone—they’re gonna need to find a content creator with a solid ring light and a working air-defense system.” He added, “Feels fraught.” President Donald Trump recently told the United Nations that he was considering whether to “annihilate the Islamic Republic” and “drive them into hell,” which, one presumes, would not bode well for photographers or tourists in the region.
Another photographer who reviewed M+C Saatchi’s document said, “If the request is to work in an active war zone, you’d like to think they’d be up front about it. I had to do a Google search to confirm.” A travel-industry veteran who saw the R.F.P. said, “Not only are you possibly getting bombed, but you’re basically sending hundreds or thousands of other people—tourists—into it. Wild times.”
According to a recent article in Arabian Business, a Middle Eastern news outlet that covers real estate, there are “lots of rooms available” in hotels “overlooking the Strait of Hormuz.” A room at the four-star Azimut Hotel Musandam, just across the border, in Oman, was recently going for seventy-two dollars a night. An online writeup of the hotel said, “Ride an Omani Dhow cruising the sea coast in the Strait of Hormuz.” The construction of the Wynn al-Marjan Island, a multibillion-dollar gaming resort on a man-made island sixty miles southwest of the strait, has also slowed. “This picture could shift,” a Wynn executive told investors earlier this year, during a dour earnings call.
Still, tourism around the strait has not completely ground to a halt. A recent review of the budget-tier Ras al-Khaimah Hotel described it as a “perfect staycation,” despite the fact that “the swimming pool is average.” ♦