The UAE's Minister of Economy, Abdulla bin Touq, said that a single tourist visa system, intended to facilitate travel inside the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, is in the works and should be implemented within the next two years. The GCC tourism ministers met recently in Oman and approved this important project with unanimous votes. The idea, which calls for the creation of certain visa laws and restrictions, is scheduled to be discussed at the next GCC summit. The intended launch is slated for 2024 or 2025, depending on how well-prepared the internal systems of each GCC member state are. With just one visa needed to enter six nations, it is expected that this unified visa will encourage economic cooperation throughout the Gulf area.
With the implementation of the consolidated visa, the United Arab Emirates is prepared to receive a surge of foreign visitors. To improve the traveler experience, the Emirates Tourism Council has also designed a tourism route that links its seven emirates. Significantly, the tourism industry in the Middle East has seen the strongest global recovery following the epidemic, with HSBC reporting a "total recovery" in terms of visitor arrivals in the first quarter of 2023. The GCC 2030 tourism plan, which intends to expand the sector's economic contribution through increased intra-GCC travel and higher hotel occupancy rates, is in line with the unified visa initiative.
The goal of the GCC's 2030 tourism strategy is to bring the total number of tourists visiting GCC countries to 128.7 million by 2030, up from 39.8 million the year before. This is a noteworthy 136.6% increase over 2021. The region's advanced and highly qualified travel and tourist infrastructure was highlighted by Minister Bin Touq. There were 10,649 hotels in the area at the end of the previous year, a 1.2% rise over 2016. Interestingly, the UAE came in second place in the area, after Saudi Arabia, with 1,114 hotels.
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