The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is developing a single unified visa system to simplify travel for tourists visiting the Gulf region and boosting tourism.
The GCC consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The move comes as part of the GCC’s shared tourism strategy, which strives to increase the travel and tourism sector’s economic contribution through increased regional travel and higher hotel occupancy rates, reports thenationalnews.com.
The strategy hopes to boost the number of foreign visitors to GCC countries to 128,7 million by 2030, up from the 39,8 million visitors accommodated last year.
According to the GCC, many travellers are put off intra-Gulf travel due to stringent visa restrictions, leaving the market untapped.
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, says the unified visa will be an essential development for tourism in the region as it will make it more attractive to visitors.
“The development of tourism in other countries in the Middle East will make the whole region more attractive and encourage more businesses,” says Griffiths.
Dubai International Airport raised its full-year 2023 passenger traffic forecast in August to 85 million, from an earlier prediction of 83,6 million, closing in on its pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, the airport recorded passenger traffic of 86,4 million travellers.
“If things continue to go well, I am hopeful that by the end of the year we may be close to our original pre-pandemic numbers,” says Griffiths.
