Eid Al-Fitr, Eid Al-Adha, Saudi National Day on September 23, and Founding Day on February 22 are the four moments each year when GCC consumers search for restaurants, cafés, salons, and hotels at rates that can double or triple normal weekly traffic. A Google Business Profile that is prepared for these windows — with fresh posts, accurate hours, seasonal photos, and pre-seeded answers — captures that intent. One that is not prepared hands it to whichever competitor prepared first.
The GCC seasonal-marketing calendar every local business needs
Understanding when to act requires knowing exactly when each event falls — and for the two Eids, that date changes every year because the Islamic calendar is Hijri (lunar), running approximately 11 days shorter than the Gregorian year.
Eid Al-Fitr ends the month of Ramadan. In 2025 it fell around March 30; in 2026 around March 20; in 2027 around March 9. The holiday itself lasts three days officially, but Saudi consumers begin searching for Eid dining and shopping options a full week before. GBP preparation should start 10 days before the expected moon-sighting date. Because the Hijri calendar produces a different Gregorian date each cycle, build a recurring reminder into your marketing calendar to check the expected date at least three weeks out.
Eid Al-Adha falls on the 10th of Dhul Hijjah, approximately 70 days after Eid Al-Fitr. In 2025 it fell around June 6; in 2026 around May 27. Eid Al-Adha carries heavier family-gathering and gifting behaviour than Eid Al-Fitr in many Saudi households, making it particularly strong for restaurants with private dining rooms and for retail gift shops.
Saudi National Day is fixed: September 23. It celebrates the unification of the Kingdom in 1932. The Saudi government designates it as a public holiday, and it has evolved into a major consumer moment characterised by green-and-white decor, pride-themed menus, and late-night socialising. Businesses in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Al-Khobar see foot traffic extend past midnight. Prepare your GBP at least two weeks before September 23.
Saudi Founding Day is fixed: February 22. It marks the founding of the First Saudi State in 1727. Introduced as an official holiday in 2022, it has grown steadily in commercial importance. Expect consumer behaviour similar to National Day — dining out, cafés filling up, staycation hotel packages — though the scale is currently smaller. The combination of Founding Day in February, Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr in March, and Eid Al-Adha in late spring means Q1 and Q2 demand particularly dense GBP preparation.
UAE National Day is December 2 — relevant for Saudi businesses with branches in the UAE or that attract significant UAE visitor traffic, particularly in border and coastal markets. The decor palette shifts from green to red-and-green.
For a full picture of how seasonal signals interact with Saudi local ranking, see the guide on local rank signals in Saudi Arabia.
The GBP feature-stack for seasonal windows
Google Business Profile gives you four levers that directly affect how your listing appears during high-intent holiday periods. Using all four together compounds the effect.
Google Posts with Offer-type CTA. GBP supports several post types; for holiday promotions, the Offer format is the right choice. It requires a title, start date, end date, and an optional coupon code or redemption URL. Posts with the Offer type render with a visible "Offer" badge on both Google Maps and Search, which increases click-through relative to a standard update post. The practical limit is one to two active posts visible at a time on most mobile surfaces. GBP's internal API historically throttled post indexing on heavily contested dates, so earlier posting gives your content more impression time before the peak day itself.
Create the post in Arabic first, because Arabic-language search volume for Saudi holidays consistently outpaces English. Then create a second post in English. Both can run concurrently. Keep copy specific: "Family Eid set menu — 4 courses, SAR 199 per person, table for six or more" outperforms "Celebrate Eid with us!" because it answers the practical question a searcher has before they click.
Special-Hours setting. Many Saudi businesses operate extended hours during Eid and National Day — late-night seatings, early-morning Eid breakfast sittings, or reduced hours on the first day of Eid. If your GBP profile does not reflect these actual hours, two bad things happen. First, guests searching "open now" late at night will not see you if your normal closing time has already passed. Second, customers who arrive at the wrong time leave frustrated one-star reviews. Set Special Hours inside the Business Profile dashboard under the Hours section. Add each holiday date individually. Google may also trigger a confirmation prompt near major holidays — respond to it.
Photo updates with seasonal decor. Google's profile freshness signals weight recent photo uploads. Uploading three to five new photos showing your actual seasonal decor — Saudi flag bunting, Eid lanterns, National Day green-and-white table settings — tells Google's algorithm your profile is actively maintained and gives prospective guests an accurate preview of what to expect. Replace outdated decor images from previous years rather than leaving them to accumulate. A café that still shows 2022 National Day photos in 2026 is signalling neglect, not celebration. For a full photo strategy, see GBP photos strategy for restaurants and cafés.
Q&A pre-seeding for "are you open?" The GBP Q&A section is publicly editable — anyone can post a question and anyone can answer. During holidays, the most common questions are about hours ("Are you open on Eid Al-Fitr?", "Do you have a National Day special?"). You can post these questions yourself and answer them before guests ask. This is not a workaround; it is an intended use of the Q&A feature. Pre-seed at least three questions before each major holiday: one about hours, one about reservations or walk-ins, and one about the special offer or menu.
Campaign playbook by season and industry
Abstract advice does not win local searches. Here is how four common Saudi business types can apply the feature-stack concretely.
Restaurant — Eid family-gathering campaign. Saudi families gather in large groups during Eid, and restaurants that can accommodate groups of 8–20 are in particularly high demand. A restaurant in Riyadh or Jeddah should create an Offer post titled "Eid family gathering — private room for 10–20 guests, Eid set menu SAR 185 per head" with a start date seven days before Eid and an end date the last day of the three-day holiday. Set Special Hours for the early-morning Eid breakfast sitting (typically 7:00–11:00 AM on Eid day 1) and the extended evening service (until 2:00 or 3:00 AM). Upload photos of the private dining room decorated with Eid lighting. Pre-seed Q&A: "Do you take group reservations for Eid?" and "Is the Eid menu available for walk-ins?"
Café — National Day promo. National Day street traffic in Riyadh's Al-Olaya district and Jeddah's Corniche runs late into the night on September 23 and September 24. A café should create an Offer post featuring a National Day drink or cake — "Green velvet cake + Saudi coffee for SAR 39" — with a visible Saudi flag colour scheme in the post image. Extend Special Hours to at least 2:00 AM on September 23. Upload a photo of the café window decorated with Saudi flags. Pre-seed Q&A: "Are you open on National Day?" and "Do you have a National Day menu?"
Salon — Eid-prep package campaign. The two weeks before Eid are the busiest booking period of the year for Saudi women's salons. Appointments for hair, nails, and beauty treatments sell out days in advance. An Offer post should lead with scarcity: "Eid beauty package — limited slots, book by [date]" with a booking link as the CTA URL. The offer start date should be 12 days before Eid — earlier than restaurants — because the booking intent peaks before the holiday itself. Set Special Hours to reflect extended opening times (early mornings, late evenings). Pre-seed Q&A: "Can I book an Eid package online?" and "Do you take walk-ins during Eid week?"
Hotel — Founding Day staycation. Founding Day on February 22 is an increasingly popular staycation trigger, particularly in Riyadh where the weather in late February is mild enough for outdoor hotel activities. A hotel should create an Offer post for a Founding Day staycation package — "2-night stay + breakfast, SAR 850 per room, Feb 21–23" — with a direct booking link. Upload photos of the hotel lobby or pool area with subtle Founding Day (green-and-gold) decor accents. Pre-seed Q&A: "Do you have a Founding Day offer?" and "Is the pool open during the Founding Day weekend?"
Pitfalls that cost you the holiday traffic spike
Preparation mistakes are predictable, which means they are avoidable. These are the five that show up most consistently.
Posting after the window has already opened. The single most common mistake is creating the GBP post on the morning of Eid or National Day. At that point, a competitor who posted seven days earlier has already accumulated all the impressions from the research phase — the week when consumers are deciding where to go. Holiday intent peaks before the holiday, not on it. A post live on September 23 captures almost none of the traffic that moved through local search September 15–22.
Using outdated or stock decor photos. Uploading a generic "Eid Mubarak" graphic that has no connection to your venue, or reusing the same National Day photo from 2023, actively signals low freshness. Google's image-quality systems flag reused and low-resolution images. More practically, prospective guests see no evidence that your venue looks different or special during the holiday. Always photograph your actual decorated space, even with a smartphone.
No Arabic version of the post. Creating only an English-language GBP post for Saudi National Day is a significant missed opportunity. The vast majority of Saudi consumers searching for "مطاعم اليوم الوطني" or "كافيه العيد" are searching in Arabic. An English-only post is invisible to that query surface. Create separate Arabic posts — do not rely on Google to translate automatically.
Ignoring the Special-Hours feature. If your GBP profile shows normal hours during a period when you are actually open until 3:00 AM or closed on Eid morning, you will both miss the "open now" filter traffic and frustrate guests who arrive to find hours different from what was listed. The Special-Hours tool exists precisely for this. Using it takes five minutes and directly affects "open now" search placement.
Missing the CTA button on Offer posts. An Offer post without a coupon code or redemption URL is a standard-looking post that wastes the Offer format's click-through advantage. Always add either a coupon code (even a simple one like "EID25") or a booking/ordering link. The link can go to your Taqymat profile, your reservation system, or a WhatsApp Business number — what matters is that the searcher has a clear next action.
For a complete walkthrough of setting up your profile before a seasonal campaign, see the onboarding guide.
What to do next
- Check the expected Eid date for the coming cycle at an authoritative Hijri converter and mark your GBP preparation window 10 days before it.
- Block time to set Special Hours for September 23, February 22, and both Eid holidays in your GBP dashboard now — you can update the hours as you finalise your schedule, but the date entries take seconds to create.
- Photograph your venue with seasonal decor during the next holiday and upload at least three photos to your GBP profile within 24 hours of the holiday starting.
- Pre-seed your Q&A section before each event with at least three questions covering hours, reservations, and your specific offer.
- Create your Offer-type GBP Post in Arabic first, then English, seven to ten days before each holiday.
Consistent seasonal preparation compounds. A business that executes this playbook across four holidays per year builds a track record of profile freshness and engagement signals that raises its baseline local ranking year-round — not just during the holiday windows.