Today's Edition
BATOOL GHAITH (ABU DHABI)
Digital media has transformed travel from a private experience into a global conversation. Today, a single creator can challenge stereotypes, spark curiosity and bridge cultures with just one video.
Few embody this shift more compellingly than Haifa Beseisso – a travel storyteller and YouTuber known for her openness, humility and deep respect for the world’s diversity. For Beseisso, digital platforms offer something traditional television never could: freedom.
“Digital media gives you freedom of passion expression, which is what pushed me to leave TV and create content on my own,” Beseisso told Aletihad during an interview at the Bridge Summit.
An award-winning Palestinian content creator based in the UAE, Beseisso – known for her online channel “Fly with Haifa” – has built a community of more than a million followers across platforms. As she explores the world and shares her life and adventures, she tells stories that challenge stereotypes and champions cross-cultural understanding. Her values and principles are reflected in her work, many of which had gone viral, including a video titled “The Middle East Speaks Up”.
Exploring a culture is like entering someone’s home, she said at the summit. “You should observe how people live, wait for them to lead, and adjust your behaviour to honour their customs.”
Respect begins with humility, Beseisso stressed. She recalled filming in Sudan, where she spent the holy month of Ramadan in people’s homes, eating homemade food, sharing tea in the streets, and learning quietly before she recorded anything.
“I become more of a listener, a student,” she said. “I share what I’m learning with people authentically.”
Across the globe, not every community is used to having cameras around and reactions to filming content vary depending on culture or even one’s personality, she said.
“It could change from country to country or event to event,” she said, emphasising that obtaining consent to film anyone is crucial.
Beseisso believes creators today hold a unique kind of power, which is the ability to shape global narratives. “When you are holding the microphone or the camera, you are in a state of authority,” she said.
She also acknowledged how powerful AI can be. “AI should be a tool that saves time, not a tool that replaces authenticity we want to use it, not let it use us. As audiences, they can sense it when something is AI generated. We need to keep the human part.”
Through her storytelling, Beseisso has shown that travel content is not about collecting visuals but building bridges.
