Assessing the potential impacts of the GCC Unified Visa

The GCC countries have approved a unified tourism visa system which aims to boost tourism and economic diversification across the region. The new system should come into effect in 2024 or 2025 having been announced at the recent GCC meeting in Muscat.

What you will learn:

• Previous analysis by Tourism Economics has quantified a range of impacts from successful changes in visa policy as it facilitates greater ease in travel. The size of impact varies depending on the type of policy change and existing entry requirements but typically range 4%-16%pa boost to annual average growth in inbound travel.
• Our initial analysis estimates this could add a cumulative 22mn more visitor arrivals and 26bn USD in visitor spending to the region by 2030 – an estimated increase of 4% – based on some draft assumptions around the implementation and reach of the new visa.