GCC Single Tourist Visa: Schengen-Style Permit To Be Launched This Year

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will launch the pilot phase of the unified tourist visa in the fourth quarter of this year, said Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism and Chairman of the Emirates Tourism Council.

He said the unified GCC tourist visa - which is similar to the Schengen-style visa, offering visitors to visit all six GCC countries - is a“strategic step towards deeper regional integration and will enhance the Gulf's collective appeal as a single tourism destination.”

In an interview with the UAE news agency Wam, he said the full implementation of the visa - also known as GCC Grand Tourist Visa - will be rolled out at a later stage.

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The minister, however, didn't disclose the exact date of the launch of the single GCC visa.

On June 16, 2025, Al Marri told Khaleej Times in an interview that the GCC single tourist visa has been approved and will be rolled out“soon”.

“The single (GCC) tourist visa has been approved and now waiting to be implemented, hopefully, soon. Now, it is with the Ministry of Interior and the relevant stakeholders, and they should look into it,” Al Marri said during the interview on the sidelines of the UAE Hospitality Summer Camp.

The GCC Grand Tourist Visa will allow foreign tourists to visit the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait on a single visa.

The cost and duration of the visa have not yet been disclosed.

Travel and tourism industry executives believe that this visa will be a game-changer for the regional tourism industry and overall economies, creating thousands of new jobs along with a big boost to GDP. It will boost both religious and 'bleisure' tourism in the region.

Executives believe that all GCC countries will be beneficiaries of this new visa, but the UAE and Saudi Arabia will attract the most tourists.

In 2024, the UAE received 3.3 million visitors from GCC countries in 2024, accounting for 11 per cent of total hotel guests, Al Marri said. Saudi Arabia led with 1.9 million visitors, followed by Oman with 777,000, Kuwait with 381,000, Bahrain with 123,000 and Qatar with 93,000.

The UAE minister told Wam that the number of commercial licences in tourism, hospitality, aviation, air transport, aviation technologies, and digital tourism solutions in the UAE reached 39,546 by mid-September 2025, a 275 per cent increase compared to mid-September 2020.

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