{"id":7020662,"date":"2025-06-19T15:55:43","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T13:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/?p=7020662"},"modified":"2025-06-19T15:55:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T13:55:56","slug":"unified-gulf-tourist-visa-approved-and-soon-to-be-launched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/blog\/le-visa-touristique-unifie-des-pays-du-golfe-approuve-et-bientot-lance\/","title":{"rendered":"Unified tourist visa for Gulf countries approved and soon to be launched"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <em>Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)<\/em> are about to launch <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/blog\/a-visa-similar-to-the-schengen-visa-for-gulf-countries\/\">its unified tourist visa<\/a><\/strong> which should transform the region's tourism sector. This new visa, comparable to the European Schengen system, will enable visitors to explore the 6 member states - the United Arab Emirates \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddea, Saudi Arabia \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udde6, Bahrain \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\udded, Qatar \ud83c\uddf6\ud83c\udde6, Oman \ud83c\uddf4\ud83c\uddf2 and Kuwait \ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddfc - with a single authorization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This approval, announced at a trade show in the United Arab Emirates, was unanimous. <strong>Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri<\/strong>the United Arab Emirates' Minister of the Economy, confirmed that the visa was approved and awaiting implementation \"shortly\".<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"entry-content-asset\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The long-anticipated GCC Unified Tourist Visa has officially been approved \u2705<br><br>in a press briefing during the UAE Hospitality Summer Camp on Monday, June 16, 2025, UAE Economy Minister Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri confirmed:<br><br>\"The single GCC tourist visa has been approved and is now... <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ICdhExogPO\">pic.twitter.com\/ICdhExogPO<\/a><\/p>- IFTmena (@IFTmena) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IFTmena\/status\/1935389555546271776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 18, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A catalyst for bleisure and inter-country tourism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the main spin-offs expected from this unified visa is the development of the \"<em>bleisure<\/em>\"(trips combining business and leisure). Visitors, especially those on business trips, will be able to extend their stay to discover neighboring countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rikant Pitti<\/strong>co-founder of EaseMyTrip.com, highlights this trend among Indian travelers coming to the UAE, eager to mix business and vacation by exploring destinations like Dubai and Abu Dhabi with their families. Philip Barnes, CEO of Rotana, confirms this increase in \"bleisure\" travel, with customers extending their business trips to explore more of the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The hotel and tourism sector is already seeing growing demand, spurred by the attraction of new attractions and simplified visa procedures. Vincent Miccolis noted an exceptional 28 % increase in long-term stays in Q1 2024 compared to Q1 2023 at regional properties, for both business and leisure travelers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The unified visa is seen as a \"game-changer\" for the regional tourism industry and global economies. It is expected to create more job opportunities and boost GDP. A senior UAE official stressed that the scheme would increase the length of stay and spending of tourists, particularly those from far afield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Travel agencies in the United Arab Emirates and abroad are actively preparing to offer \"<strong>GCC Grand Tours<\/strong>\u201c. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p><strong>Rehan Asad<\/strong>Vice President, Global Markets at Expedia, compared the expected impact to that of the Schengen visa in Europe, which considerably boosted the tourism sector.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mohammed Farooz<\/strong>executive secretary at <em>Last Minute Tourism<\/em>also indicated that packages combining Dubai, Oman and Qatar would be available in the coming months, potentially 25 % cheaper than regular offers. <strong>Ross Veitch<\/strong>Wego's CEO, anticipates that the visa will make the region \".<em>even more popular<\/em>\"This is particularly true of Chinese visitors, as is the case in Europe and Southeast Asia, where tourists visit several countries in the same trip.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are about to launch their unified tourist visa, which is set to transform the region's tourism sector. This new visa, comparable to the European Schengen system, will enable visitors to explore the 6 member states - the United Arab Emirates \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddea, Saudi Arabia \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udde6, Bahrain ... <a title=\"Unified tourist visa for Gulf countries approved and soon to be launched\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/blog\/le-visa-touristique-unifie-des-pays-du-golfe-approuve-et-bientot-lance\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Unified tourist visa for Gulf countries approved and soon to be launched\">Read the article<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7020663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[32,55,78,85,53,105],"class_list":["post-7020662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-moyen-orient","tag-arabie-saoudite","tag-bahrein","tag-emirats-arabes-unis","tag-koweit","tag-oman","tag-qatar"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7020662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7020662"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7020662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7020666,"href":"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7020662\/revisions\/7020666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7020663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7020662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7020662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visamundi.co\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7020662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}