The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have unanimously approved a GCC tourist visa, similar to the Schengen style, as part of efforts to further help the growth of the country’s economy.
The decision has been confirmed by Oman’s Minister of Heritage and Tourism, Salem bin Mohammed Al Mahrooq, while the GCC tourism ministers sought feedback by December, VisaGuide.World reports.
The proposed tourist visa will be discussed at the upcoming regional interior ministers’ conference in Muscat, which is set to be held in November this year.
The new changes mean that visitors to the region will be eligible to use a single tourism visa in order to visit all six GCC countries, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Arab Emirates, thus facilitating the travel process for them.
The decision is also expected to significantly improve the travel and tourism sector, which has also been highly affected by the COVID-related restrictions.
“The common tourism visa for the Gulf Cooperation Council is coming very soon. There is unanimous agreement in terms of the importance of this matter. There will be a number of follow-up meetings to see how we can proceed on this to reach a full agreement on it,” Oman’s Minister of Heritage and Tourism said in this regard.
Through a statement, the Ministry also said that the proposal to name Omani City Sur the Capital of Tourism in 2024 was unanimously supported. In addition, the Ministry also noted that Sur will hold several activities this year in order to attract a large number of tourists from Gulf countries.
The Ministry went on to say that the GCC Tourism Strategy aims for ambitious growth to surge tourist figures by seven percent annually until 2030.
“We’re considering establishing a unified Gulf statistics center and a common tourist visa system. With coordinated efforts, the GCC is poised to capture a significant share of the global travel market,” Saudi Minister of Tourism Ahmed Aqeel al-Khatib pointed out, according to India’s Outbound report.
The introduction of such a visa was discussed in May this year at a conference held in Dubai, during which the countries’ ministers presented their ideas to further unite the GCC so passengers would consider cross-country travel similar to the EU’s Schengen Zone.
The new tourist visa comes as part of the Gulf Strategy for Tourism 2023-2030, which, according to ministers, is in the works. In addition, the meeting also looked into the introduction of a GCC Tourism Statistics Platform.