LONDON: The Gulf Cooperation Council countries will roll out a unified Gulf tourist visa within the next two years, the UAE’s Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al-Marri told Emirates News Agency on Monday. The visa will allow holders to travel to the six Gulf countries. Al-Marri said that the seventh meeting of GCC tourism ministers, held earlier this month in Oman, unanimously approved the launch of the visa. Specific regulations and legislation are to be prepared, with a projected implementation between 2024 and 2025, depending on the readiness of each GCC country’s internal systems. Al-Marri said that the UAE was preparing to welcome international tourists following the implementation of the unified visa, as well as developing a tourist route within the UAE that connected its seven emirates. The minister added: “This initiative is an integral part of the GCC 2030 tourism strategy, designed to elevate the tourism sector’s contribution to the GDP (gross domestic product) through increased inter-GCC travel and elevated hotel occupancy rates, transforming the GCC into a pre-eminent global destination for both regional and international tourists.” The tourist sector currently contributes 14 percent of the UAE’s GDP, but the aim is to raise this figure to 18 percent, in line with national strategic tourism objectives. Al-Marri highlighted the GCC countries’ sophisticated travel and tourism infrastructure. The countries boasted a total of 10,649 hotel establishments by the end of 2022, with Saudi Arabia having the highest number of facilities. He added that the GCC countries’ joint tourism strategy 2023-2030 was aiming for an annual increase of 7 percent in inbound travel to the region. The number of visitors to GCC countries reached 39.8 million last year, representing a 136.6 percent increase over 2021