Hired coach, National Day: your flag stays off.

Why this comes up for visiting groups

A tour group, a school party or a company team arrives for the 2 and 3 December holiday and wants the coach to look the part. A flag from home, a team banner, a welcome sign taped across the windscreen, a few streamers. It is a natural thought, and for a hired coach it is also a question about the rules, because the vehicle is on public roads during the celebration period.

The short answer is that the authorities allow very little on the outside of a vehicle, and nothing in the rules we read allows a foreign flag. If your group wants to show where it comes from, that cannot happen on the coach.

What the Ministry of Interior said in 2025

The official 2026 vehicle rules have not been published as of 29 October 2026. The text we have is the Ministry of Interior’s announcement for the 54th National Day in 2025, as published by the news outlet Aletihad and repeated in the Dubai Media Office’s notice for the Al Etihad Parade. The rules are likely to be similar. Do not treat them as the 2026 rules until the new notice is out.

In 2025 the rules for vehicles covered the following.

• Flags and stickers: only the UAE flag and approved Eid Al Etihad stickers. No other slogans or signs.
• No flags of other countries during the celebration period.
• No covering the side windows or the windscreen with stickers or sunshades.
• No covering or hiding the number plates.
• No changing the colour of the vehicle.
• No additions that make noise, and no loud music or anthems other than approved ones.
• No party spray.
• No passengers out of windows or sunroofs, and no overloading.
• No unauthorised marches or gatherings on public roads, and no stunts.

The penalties named were fines and impounding of the vehicle. The official text we read does not give the fine amounts, so we do not state any.

So why can your own flag not go on?

Because of one line. In the 2025 rules a vehicle could carry the UAE flag and nothing else of the kind, and the rules said flags of other countries were not allowed during the celebration period. A coach is a vehicle. A visiting group’s national flag is the flag of another country. Put those together and the answer is no, whether it is a large flag on a pole, a small one on the bumper or a banner across the back.

The same line catches team banners and company logos on signs. The rules say no other slogans or signs, which would include a hand-written board. It is not a judgement about your country or your group. It is the same rule for every vehicle on the road.

We therefore ask groups not to bring flags, banners or stickers for the outside of the vehicle. If you want to mark the trip, do it at the hotel, at the venue or in photographs there.

Other things people ask to add

Most requests fall under the same list. Here is how we read them against the 2025 text.

• Window banners or curtains. The rules bar covering the side windows or windscreen with stickers or sunshades. Ask us before you bring anything for the glass.
• A full-body wrap or paint. The rules bar changing the vehicle’s colour. Plan none.
• Speakers on the roof or loud music. The rules bar noise-making additions and loud music other than approved pieces. Our party bus rental page covers music on a group trip.
• Streamers, confetti and party spray. Spray is on the list, and anything added to the outside needs checking first.
• Someone standing through the roof hatch or waving from a window. The rules bar passengers out of windows and sunroofs.

The rules we read cover the vehicle. They do not say what passengers may carry or wear inside it, and we do not guess. The official notice is the place to look.

The parade and the roads

There is a parade element too. In 2025 the Dubai Media Office announced the Al Etihad Parade for 2 December, with an assembly at Dubai Maritime City at 3pm and a procession on Jumeirah Road from the Union House intersection to the Burj Al Arab intersection between 4:00 and 5:30pm. Police patrolled the route. Its notice told participants not to use fireworks, to keep within their lanes and not to block roads.

That was last year. The 2026 parade, its route and its time are not announced, and we do not claim there will be one. If a closure is announced on a road you need, a hired vehicle stops where the notice says. Our event transport page explains how we plan around closures.

What to do instead

We are Dubai Bus Services, a private company, not an official partner of National Day and not the authority. We cannot approve a decoration, and we do not say we offer a decorating service.

Ask us before you add anything to the vehicle. We check it against the rules in force at the time and tell you in writing. If the notice for 2026 has changed, the notice wins. If you hire from more than one company, ask each of them the same question.

For the group itself, a clean, well-kept vehicle is the point. Pick a size that suits the party: the Mercedes V-Class, the 13-seater van, the Mercedes Sprinter, the 30-seater mini coach or the 50-seater coach. Our guide to bus rules in the UAE covers other rules that apply to a hired bus.

Before you book

Entry rules depend on your passport. Check the official UAE government visa page before you book. Rooms and larger vehicles fill early around the holiday, and our peak season guide shows when. Send your dates, the number of people and the route through the booking page, and we reply with a fixed written quote before you accept.

Related: UAE National Day 2026 plan for visitors · Global Village on National Day · Party bus rental · Staff bus rules in the UAE · Event & conference transport · Coach rental Dubai · What’s in a bus rental quote · Peak season booking guide · Shuttle service · Get a quote

Keep reading

• UAE National Day 2026 plan for visitors: The National Day dates, what is still unannounced, what ran in 2025 and how a visiting group can plan a Dubai break around 2 and 3 December.
• Global Village on National Day: Global Village hours on the 2 and 3 December holiday, the RTA bus routes, parking zones, approximate drive times and how a group plans the evening.
• Staff bus rules in the UAE: Seat belts, capacity, the summer midday break and driver rest for staff buses in the UAE, in general terms, with who to ask to confirm each point.
• Bus rental prices: Starting day rates for every bus, van and car, what changes the price, and six worked examples.
• Monthly bus rental: A dedicated van, minibus or coach with its driver for weeks or months, with the hours, days and area agreed in writing.
• What’s in a bus rental quote: Hours, fuel, Salik, parking, waiting time and VAT: what a written bus quote should list, and how to compare two of them fairly.