Abu Dhabi: The unified Schengen-style tourist visa for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is expected to be rolled out between 2024 and 2025.
The disclosure was made by Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy to Emirates News Agency (WAM) on Monday, October 22.
On Sunday, October 8, GCC ministers of tourism unanimously approved a unified Gulf visa during a meeting in Oman’s capital Muscat.
With this new single visa, tourists can explore the six Gulf countries– the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait.
Al-Marri said that the process to implement the visa will be discussed next month.
He revealed that GCC governments will explore a unified tourist route connecting six countries, aimed at foreign tourists staying over 30 days.
The Emirates Tourism Council has formulated a tourist route within the UAE that interconnects its seven emirates, the minister said.
He emphasized the GCC 2030 tourism strategy’s aim to boost tourism’s contribution to GDP by increasing inter-GCC travel and hotel occupancy rates.
The UAE’s tourism sector currently contributes 14 percent to its GDP, with plans to increase it to 18 percent to achieve strategic tourism goals.
The Gulf economies have established robust infrastructure and a robust travel and tourism sector to attract foreign tourists.
Al Marri highlighted that the GCC countries have 837 tourist sites, with the UAE having 399 of them, making it the GCC leader in the number of tourist sites.
He added that the Gulf countries aim for a 7 percent annual growth in the travel and tourism sector, with a projected value of 185.9 billion dollars in 2023.
