The Grand Tours Visa is nearing its launch date as the GCC tourism ministers concluded their ninth meeting of the Committee of Their Excellencies Ministers Responsible for Tourism on February 16 and 17 with some new GCC visa news.
The meeting, which was held in Kuwait, saw the ministers responsible for tourism collaborating and discussing strategies and initiatives to strengthen tourism in the region.
Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri, the UAE Minister of Economy and the Chairman of the Emirates Tourism, headed the UAE delegation at the meeting and shared a number of important updates about tourism initiatives in the GCC region.
Al Marri highlighted the UAE’s willingness to support efforts to boost joint Gulf tourism integration and carry out tourism plans and strategies aimed at sustaining tourism in the Gulf and enhancing the GCC economies.
The Minister of Economy highlighted the strong growth in tourism in the Gulf, with international tourism arrivals surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Drawing from data from the Statistical Center for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, he noted that tourist arrivals reached 68.1 million in 2023, marking a 42.8% increase from 2019. This staggering growth in tourist arrivals also translated into an impressive $110.4 billion in tourism revenues in the GCC, a 28.2% growth from 2019.
Al Marri shared that these figures point to new opportunities to strengthen regional and international tourism in the GCC. He also emphasized the importance of deeper regional cooperation under the GCC Tourism Strategy 2023-2030 and the value of building ties with leading international tourism markets ahead of the launch of the unified GCC unified touris visa.
He said, “The meeting represents an important step to enhance joint efforts to activate the unified Gulf tourist visa in the coming period, as it will contribute to achieving a qualitative shift in the Gulf tourism sector by highlighting the diverse tourism components of the GCC countries, and attracting tourists and keeping them for long periods.”
Al Marri revealed that Al Ain had been selected as the capital of Gulf tourism for 2025 and that several promotional tourism events and programs will be held in the city, with the aim of boosting the growth of inter-tourism rates between the GCC member states.
The Minister of Economy also spoke about the value of sharing expertise and tourism statistics and data according to international best practices and the importance of strengthening collaboration between the tourism and culture sectors within the GCC countries.
Praising the recommendations and outcomes of the meeting, Al Marri affirmed the UAE’s readiness to work with the other GCC countries to increase the effectiveness of joint tourism initiatives and projects in anticipation of the launch of the GCC unified visa.