GCC states in talks for Schengen-style visa

Muscat: The GCC countries are currently in talks to launch their ‘Schengen-style’ visa which will facilitate entry into all partner countries with one visa, said Fatima al Sairafi, Minister of Tourism, Kingdom of Bahrain.

The tourism minister said, “We have a huge opportunity, the effort is in how to unify all the countries in the GCC. “We had 9.9 million visitors in 2022. One key initiative that year was we started to co-promote Bahrain as a unified destination with the GCC. If all the GCC countries unified their efforts in promotion, the opportunities would be incredible.”

Of late, the GCC countries have implied the visa procedures for GCC residents who can avail of Visa on Arrival or E-visa.

According to the Arab Gulf Center for Studies and Research (CSRGulf), all Gulf countries benefited immensely from the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 — the first to be hosted in the Middle East and the Arab world.

According to the Kuwait-based think-tank, over 2.5 million people visited the region during the World Cup.

According to Forwardkeys, Oman recorded a significant increase in performance compared to other tourist destinations in the region.