The UAE Minister of Economy recently announced additional details regarding the forthcoming unified Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) tourist visa at the Arabian Travel market (a travel and tourism trade show), including its official name, the "GCC Grand Tours," among other details. The visa is expected to be available by the end of 2024. The GCC Grand Tours is expected to allow foreign nationals to travel on one multiple-entry tourist visathrough the six GCC member states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates). It has not yet been announced how long foreign nationals will be able to stay in the GCC countries for on the GCC Grand Tours visa, but it is expected to be longer than the 30-day tourism maximum stay currently permitted in many of these countries. Further details are expected to be announced closer to the launch of the visa. The announcement is a highly anticipated development, as currently foreign nationals are required to obtain separate tourist visas to visit each GCC member state. The launch is expected to attract foreign nationals in order to make the GCC a leading tourism destination and to help GCC countries diversify their economies.
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