The Gulf is finally launching a unified tourist visa – but why did it take this long?
The GCC’s new unified tourist visa, launching in 2026, signals rare regional alignment. Aiming to support post-oil economies, it promises smoother movement across the Gulf and meaningful shifts in how the bloc works together.
With its new tourist visa, the Gulf Co-operation Council’s member states are signalling a sea change in relations. More than 40 years after the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) was formed, its six member states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – are finally launching a unified tourist visa.
The initiative, dubbed GCC Grand Tours, will launch in 2026 and promises something close to freedom of movement across the Arabian peninsula. The hope is that it will be perceived not as a tourism gimmick but as a sign that the Gulf’s nations can finally move in step, with travellers’ passports no longer needing multiple pages of stamps after trips in a single region.
The initiative seems so clearly useful that you wonder why it took the GCC member states so long. In a bloc that has spent decades talking up integration, it’s surprising that a visitor has been unable to drive from Doha to Dubai without overcoming visa-related hurdles. But the reasoning for the visa’s launch now is as political as it is practical.
The Gulf’s major economies are amid an unprecedented tourism push. Saudi Arabia hopes to welcome 150 million visitors per year by 2030; in 2024, Dubai surpassed the 18 million mark. As the nations work towards economic diversification and a post-oil future, regional rivalries are being set aside.
Comparisons with the Schengen Area are easy to make, but the GCC is less about removing borders as rewriting the region’s narrative – and the numbers are compelling. The Gulf had more than 68 million international visitors in 2023 according to UN Tourism, yet intra-GCC travel accounts for a little over a quarter of that figure.
Officials expect the visa to boost regional movement by at least 20 per cent, extending stays from an average of 3.5 nights to nearly a week and injecting huge amounts of cash into local hospitality. Until now, the GCC’s cross-border integration has been a mere aspiration. This time, however, there’s momentum. The UAE’s connectivity, Saudi Arabia’s scale and Qatar’s cultural cachet are a potent mix. Let’s see if all of that is enough.
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