Tourism ministers from the six Gulf Cooperation Council states held an extraordinary video-conference on 7 April and issued a statement on 11 April reaffirming that the region—including the United Arab Emirates—remains safe and fully open to visitors despite ongoing security tensions with Iran. The joint communiqué, reported by GCC Business News, condemned recent Iranian attacks on civilian infrastructure and stressed that ‘visitor safety and sector continuity are fully assured by the competent authorities of each member state’. The ministers highlighted the robustness of GCC aviation corridors, coordinated emergency planning and the bloc’s commitment to its 2024-2030 Tourism Strategy, which positions the UAE and its neighbours as a unified high-quality destination. For corporate mobility teams the statement provides political cover to maintain scheduled incentive trips, exhibitions and expatriate rotations into the Emirates. It also signals that investment-linked residence programmes—such as Dubai’s 10-year property visa—will continue to be processed, with ministers promising to ‘safeguard ongoing projects from potential disruptions’. The communiqué reinforces momentum toward a single GCC tourist visa, expected to launch later this year, and encourages tourism boards to step up global marketing even as air-capacity constraints persist. Businesses should nevertheless retain contingency plans: the ministers called for ‘rapid-response frameworks’ should security conditions deteriorate again.
Source: GCC Business News
