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EU to lift curbs on high-spending tourists from the GCC
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Thousands of travelers from the Middle East are expected to visit the continent
European Union has agreed on Wednesday to ease COVID-19 travel restrictions on visitors from around the world ahead of the summer tourist season.
Ambassadors from the 27 EU countries, according to Reuters, have approved a European Commission proposal from May 3 to loosen the criteria to determine “safe” countries and to let in fully vaccinated tourists from elsewhere, it said, citing sources
Under the current restrictions, people from only seven countries, including Australia, Israel and Singapore, can enter the EU on holiday, regardless of whether the tourists have been vaccinated.
It comes as countries in Europe and the Gulf start to ease travel restrictions and airlines add more capacity in anticipation of a busy summer season.
A relaxation of EU travel rule would be a welcome boon for millions of people throughout the region hoping to escape the scorching summer temperatures of the Gulf. The outbound tourism from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has surged in the last few years. According to a 2017 report from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the European Travel Commission (ETC), the average GCC traveler spends 6.5 times more than the average world traveler. The report said that nearly $60 bn were spent by the GCC travelers in various destinations around the world.
Governments worldwide are balancing the need to help the battered tourism sector get back on its feet with the necessity to protect their citizens and keep infection rates contained.
Earlier this week the Emirates Airline chairman hinted that the UAE could make it off the UK“s travel red list over the next week.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum made the disclosure in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.
He said he was hopeful of news about the UAE being taken off the UK red list within the next week. The UK left the EU at the end of last year.
After more than a year of travel restrictions, Gulf residents are expected to spend heavily on holidays this year as borders are opened.
A recent survey from Almosafer, a unit of Seera, the Kingdom’s biggest travel group, found that 80 percent of Saudi respondents were planning to travel internationally within the first six months of the opening of the borders.