GCC Countries Continuing to Work in Launching a Unified Tourist Visa, UAE Minister Confirms
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GCC countries are working to launch a unified tourist visa.
The unified tourist visa will permit entry to all GCC countries without needing any additional documents.
The GCC unified tourist visa is expected to be launched between 2024 and 2025.
The UAE Minister of Economy, Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, has confirmed that the GCC countries – UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait – are continuing to work to launch a unified tourist visa.

Sharing the progress on the matter, Al Marri said during the World Economic Forum meeting that the unified GCC tourist visa is an important “tool” in attracting foreign tourists, VisaGuide.World reports.

Minister Al Marri further highlighted that the unified GCC tourist visa would retain more tourists in the regions and, at the same time, stressed that the visa would help the GCC countries to become popular destinations among foreigners.

Once it comes into effect, it will contribute to highlighting the diverse tourism destinations in GCC countries, attracting and retaining tourists for longer periods.
UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri
As Khaleej Times explains, Minister Al Marri also said that hotels are expected to register a higher number of guests, and the GCC countries’ overall economic growth will see a positive uptick.

While Minister Al Marri did not reveal a specific date when the unified GCC tourist visa will be introduced, it is believed that the document will be rolled out by the end of this year or in 2025 at the latest.

How Will the Unified GCC Tourist Visa Work?

As the GCC countries have explained, the unified tourist visa that will be launched soon will work similarly to the Schengen visa.

This means that if a foreigner obtains, for example, a UAE tourist visa, they will be able to enter Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait with the same document without having to apply for another visa.

However, the holders of the unified tourist visa will be permitted to stay in the territory of the GCC countries for a limited period within a year. The permitted stay period on this type of visa has yet to be shared, along with other details.

Back in 2023, when plans for launching a unified visa were announced, the Minister of Tourism of Bahrain, Fatima Al Sairafi, stressed that this visa would help the GCC countries to attract more visitors.

The same said that this visa could push visitors to visit multiple GCC countries once they are in the region.

The UAE authorities also highlighted the impact that the unified visa will have. According to them, the GCC countries might reach a record number of 128.7 million visitors by 2030 once the new visa becomes available.