We started Marhabein because we kept missing things.
A last-minute concert announcement in Dubai. A food festival in Riyadh that sold out before anyone heard about it. A new law that quietly changed how expats renew their residency. Events, moments, and updates that matter to people living in the Gulf — scattered across dozens of sources, easy to miss.
So we built one place for all of it.
Marhabein is a lifestyle and culture platform covering the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman. We cover events, travel, food, shopping, laws, and everyday life across the Gulf — for expats, residents, and visitors who want to stay informed and make the most of where they are.
We are published by Casual Post Media LLC, based in Dubai, UAE.
Who We Are
We are a small editorial team. Most of us live in the Gulf. We are not writing about the Middle East from somewhere else — we are here, navigating the same cities, attending the same events, and dealing with the same rules and realities that our readers do.
That matters to us, because it shows in the writing. When we publish a concert guide, we check the ticket prices ourselves. When we cover a UAE law change, we read the official announcement and link to it. When we recommend a restaurant, it is a place someone on our team has actually been to.
We are not a content factory. We are a small team trying to be genuinely useful to people who live in one of the most fast-moving regions in the world.
Meet the Team
Layla Mostafa — Travel & Events Editor
Layla covers events and entertainment across the UAE and Gulf. She has spent the past five years living and travelling across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia, and she leads our concert guides, festival roundups, and weekend travel content. If something is happening in the UAE this month, Layla knows about it. She is based in Dubai.
Nour Al-Amin — Lifestyle & Culture Writer
Nour writes about the practical and cultural side of life in the Gulf. She covers UAE laws and policy changes, housing, food, wellness, and expat life — translating complex official information into clear, readable guides. She has been living in the UAE for over four years and writes from experience, not just research.
Khalid Rasheed — Tech & Shopping Correspondent
Khalid tracks consumer tech, retail, apps, and digital life across the Gulf. He covers product launches, price comparisons, and shopping guides with a practical, region-specific perspective — the kind of information that is actually useful when you are comparing iPhone prices in Qatar or navigating the best malls in Kuwait.
Our Story
Marhabein launched in early 2025, born from a straightforward frustration: there was no single, reliable source for what was actually happening across the Gulf.
The big international outlets covered the region occasionally. Local news sources existed but were scattered across six countries and multiple languages. There was no one platform that a person in Dubai could open on a Tuesday morning to find out about the weekend’s concerts, check whether a new law affected their visa, discover a restaurant that opened last week, or find out what events were coming up in Riyadh next month.
We wanted to build that platform. So we did.
We started with events and lifestyle coverage in the UAE and expanded from there. Today Marhabein covers food, travel, shopping, culture, and the practical information that makes life in the Gulf easier to navigate — all in one place, updated regularly, written by people who are actually here.
What We Cover
- Events — Concerts, festivals, and things to do across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Doha, Kuwait City, and Muscat.
- Travel — Guides for residents exploring the region on weekends and tourists visiting for the first time.
- Lifestyle — UAE laws, expat tips, housing, wellness, and the practical information that affects daily life.
- Food — Restaurants, food trends, and budget guides across the Gulf.
- Shopping — What’s new, what’s worth it, and where to find it — from malls in Kuwait to markets in Bahrain.
- Culture — The stories, traditions, and modern movements that shape the Middle East.
Why We Called It Marhabein
Marhabein — مرحبين — is the Arabic word for a double welcome. It is what you say in the Middle East when you want someone to feel genuinely at home, not just politely acknowledged.
When we were naming this platform, we kept coming back to that word. Because that is exactly what we want Marhabein to feel like — a place where anyone curious about the Gulf feels welcomed, informed, and ready to explore.
It also reflects something true about the region itself. The Middle East is not one thing. It is a collection of cities, cultures, languages, and experiences that are all evolving at the same time. Marhabein is our attempt to capture that — to be a platform as layered and dynamic as the region it covers.
In the Middle East, conversations begin with Marhabein, friendships are formed over it, and doors open with it. We chose this name because it reflects the spirit of what we are building — a platform where you are always welcomed, whether you have lived here for twenty years or just landed for the first time.
Why the Middle East
Because it does not get enough honest, useful coverage.
The Gulf is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing cities, most ambitious projects, and most genuinely welcoming hospitality. Saudi Arabia welcomed over 100 million tourists in 2023 — a 56% increase from 2019, according to the Saudi Tourism Authority. The UAE continues to invest heavily in its tourism and cultural infrastructure, attracting millions of visitors each year. Qatar has seen dramatic growth in international arrivals since the World Cup. These are not just statistics — they reflect a region that the world is paying attention to, and one that deserves better coverage than it typically gets.
Most international coverage of the Middle East is either overly promotional or filtered through an outsider’s lens. We want to change that — not through grand mission statements, but through the basics: accurate information, honest recommendations, and stories that reflect the region as it actually is.
That is what Marhabein is for.
Our Values
Accuracy. We link to official sources on anything legal, financial, or policy-related. We update time-sensitive articles when information changes. We correct mistakes when we make them.
Local perspective. Our team lives in the Gulf. We write about places we have been to, events we have attended, and rules that affect us too. That is not something you can fake — and it is the foundation of everything we publish.
Usefulness over volume. We would rather publish fewer articles that genuinely help someone plan their weekend, understand a new law, or find the right restaurant — than publish more content that wastes their time.
Respect for the region. The Middle East has a complex, rich, and often misrepresented identity. We approach every story with the care and respect that the region and its people deserve.
Our Mission
To be the most useful, honest, and locally grounded guide to life and culture in the Gulf — for the people who live here, visit here, and love this part of the world.
No missed concerts. No confusing laws. No “you had to know someone” to find the best restaurant. Just clear, reliable, up-to-date information about one of the most exciting regions on the planet.
Welcome to Marhabein. Or as we say here — Marhabein!
Published by Casual Post Media LLC, Dubai, UAE.
For editorial inquiries or corrections: [email protected]
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