UAE, Saudi Arabia likely to introduce 'Schengen-style Visa' for tourists

Countries under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are in the process of introducing a "Schengen-style visa" that would allow people to visit all partner countries under one visa, according to a report by Hotelier Middle East. 

Fatima Al Sairafi, minister of Tourism for the Kingdom of Bahrain, Undersecretary Abdulla Al Saleh, Government of UAE, and Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO of the Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) jointly made the announcement during the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) which runs until 4 May.

"We have huge opportunity, the effort is in how to unify all the countries in the GCC. We had 9.9 million visitors in 2022. How? There was one key initiative that year, we started to co-promote Bahrain as a unified destination with the GCC," Al Sairafi said, adding that the opportunities are "incredible" if all GCC countries unified their efforts in promotion, reports the Arabian Business.

The GCC countries, which includes UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain are all reportedly regulating visas at different paces, making visa policies "naturally tricky," according to STA's Hamidaddin.