Photos: Embassy staff issues travel advice to Brits heading to Dubai

Britons heading to Dubai for some Christmas sunshine have been warned to avoid holding hands, kissing or being drunk on the street. 

A campaign by British Embassy staff in the United Arab Emirates this week is a play on the Twas the Night Before Christmas poem, and includes travel advice to help keep Britons out of trouble.

The rhyme - meant for visitors to the Emirates, an oil-rich seven-state federation of former British protectorates - highlights potential cultural pitfalls through the eyes of fictional traveller Stu Nicholas.

British citizens have received jail sentences here after being found guilty of kissing in public and having drunken sex on the beach.

Other foreigners have been prosecuted for exchanging steamy text messages or showing a middle finger to a fellow driver.

The poem is being meted out little by little on Facebook and Twitter accounts operated by Britain's diplomatic missions to the country.