Gulf Marketing Calendar 2027: Ramadan Reshapes February

Copy last year's plan into your Gulf marketing calendar 2027 and you will make an expensive mistake. Ramadan is expected to begin about 8 February 2027, which puts Saudi Founding Day, Kuwait's National Day and Liberation Day, and Qatar's National Sport Day inside the holy month or right at its opening. A loud daytime campaign you would normally run for those dates now lands on an audience that is fasting. This guide belongs to our wider playbook for running social media across Gulf markets, and it gives you a month-by-month table by country, plus what to prepare and when.

Last updated: November 2026.

One rule runs through everything below. A fixed Gregorian date really is fixed. Every Hijri date is projected until the authorities announce it after moon sighting. Each table row tells you which one you are looking at.

Why you should plan February first

Published estimates put the start of Ramadan at about 8 February 2027, with some projections saying 8 or 9 February, and Eid Al Fitr at about 9 or 10 March, all subject to moon sighting (The National, 6 October 2026). The table applies both start dates to the fixed days. The day counts are our own arithmetic.

Qatar deserves a closer look. National Sport Day is the second Tuesday of February under an Amiri decree. The Tuesdays of February 2027 are the 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rd, so it lands on 9 February. On 18 October 2026 the organising committee confirmed that the 2027 edition will coincide with Ramadan for the first time, under the theme "Ramadan .. A golden opportunity". That official report says only "February 2027", so the exact day here is worked out from the rule, not quoted from the announcement. If Ramadan began after 9 February, which is outside current estimates, Sport Day would fall just before it. Do not lock those posts until the moon-sighting announcement.

Gulf marketing calendar 2027, month by month

In the status column, "fixed" means a known Gregorian date and "projected" means it follows the moon. The focus column is our suggestion, not a rule.

Three notes on that table. First, Oman: we give no date here, so check the official announcement for its national occasions. Second, Eid Al Adha and the Islamic New Year appear by month only, on purpose, based on Astronomy Centre estimates reported by Khaleej Times. They are estimates, not confirmed dates. Third, this table does not tell you which days are public holidays, since each government announces its own, and "nothing on our list" does not mean nothing is happening in your market.

How to work with a projected date

"Projected" in that table is not a formality. It should change how you work. Here are three habits, which are our view and not a published rule.

• Keep copy free of the day: write the message without naming a date, so a one-day shift does not mean redoing the design.
• Schedule a backup for sensitive posts: first-day-of-Ramadan and Eid posts need two versions, one per likely date, and you delete the spare after the announcement.
• Name someone for announcement night: news can arrive in the evening, so one person should know what to change and have the access to do it.

Gulf states may not all announce the same start day, so if you market in several countries, follow each announcement separately.

What to prepare, and when

This timeline is our own practical suggestion, worked backwards from February. It is not a published standard. Compress it if your team is small, but keep the order.

1. By mid-December 2026: choose your markets and decide whether you are joining Founding Day or the Kuwaiti dates, or running Ramadan only.
2. Early January: write Ramadan and national-day copy in Arabic and English. If influencers are involved, read the licensing and advertising rules for each country before anyone signs.
3. By end of January: approve creative and the full schedule, leaving a one-day margin on first-day-of-Ramadan content.
4. Early February: follow the moon-sighting announcement, adjust first-day posts if needed, then lock Sport Day content if you market in Qatar.
5. Mid-February: build two versions of your Eid Al Fitr greeting, one for each likely date.
6. April: check updated estimates for Eid Al Adha and start that content.
7. August: start the Saudi National Day campaign.
8. October: prepare late-November offers alongside December content for the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar. These dates sit close together and compete for the same team.

Two time zones, two weekends

The Gulf is not one clock, and none of these countries changes its clocks for daylight saving.

A post scheduled for 8pm Riyadh time appears at 9pm in Dubai. That hardly matters most of the year, but in Ramadan it can be the difference between landing before iftar and after it, so set the time zone per campaign. Note too that Kuwait's Liberation Day is a Friday and Qatar National Day is a Saturday in 2027, both weekend days in those markets, so weekday habits may not apply. We have no public country-level studies behind suggested timings, so treat them as hypotheses. Our guide to Instagram timing in Saudi Arabia shows how to test yours.

Writing national-day content during a fast

What follows is our editorial view, not an official rule. Move the peak of any celebration to the evening and keep daytime posts quiet: a story, a historical fact, an archive image. Avoid food and drink imagery during fasting hours, even for a restaurant offer. Do not assume events will look the way they did in past years, because organisers publish their programmes later and details may arrive late.

Skip the easy shortcut as well: one post with the flag swapped per country. Anyone who knows the market will notice. Our piece on writing copy in Gulf Arabic helps you sound close to your reader, and our Ramadan content guide covers ideas for the month itself.

Running this calendar in Postilik

The Postilik calendar has month, week and day views and shows Hijri dates based on Umm al-Qura, along with upcoming occasions. Local moon sighting can differ by a day, so the official announcement stays your reference. Scheduling respects a time zone, one idea becomes one post per network, and each network has its own validation before anything is scheduled. To try it on your February plan, request access to Postilik.