DUBAI: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will kick off the pilot phase of its unified tourist visa in the last quarter of 2025, as confirmed by Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism. The new initiative, dubbed the GCC Grand Tourist Visa, is expected to allow travelers to visit all six GCC member states—UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Kuwait—under one visa, much like the Schengen visa system in Europe.
Al Marri hailed the visa as a “strategic milestone” aimed at enhancing regional integration and positioning the Gulf as a unified, attractive tourism destination. The visa’s full implementation will occur in phases, with the specifics on costs and duration yet to be announced. Tourism experts anticipate that the initiative will significantly boost regional tourism, creating job opportunities and contributing to the regional GDP.
The visa is expected to encourage both religious tourism and “bleisure” travel, where business and leisure are combined. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are predicted to attract the largest number of visitors, though all GCC countries are expected to benefit. Al Marri also noted that the UAE had seen rapid growth in its tourism sector, with a 275 percent increase in commercial licenses issued by mid-September 2025, compared to the same period in 2020.
