Dubai’s visa on arrival policy fetching dividends, say authorities

Dubai’s decision to introduce visas on arrival in 2016 has proved to be successful as the number of Chinese tourists visiting the emirate increased significantly, said the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marking of Dubai. The number of overnight visitors from China rose by 102 percent in January and in the two-month period to 60 percent to reach 157,000, which has made China the fourth largest source market for tourists for Dubai. This emirate also saw the number of Russian tourists increase by 140 percent in February after visa restrictions were done way with for passport holders. The total number of Russian visitors who arrived in Dubai in the two-month period increased by 84 percent to 65,000. Helal Saeed Almarri, director general, Dubai Tourism, was quoted by Albawaba as saying that they were elated to see the tourist numbers get off to a good start in 2017. He added that decision taken by the UAE to allow Chinese and Russian tourists to avail visas-on-arrival was an intelligent one, with positive results emerging from both the countries. Dubai Tourism said that the hiring of customer service representatives speaking Mandarin had gone up for tourist activities as well as for hotels in the city. Dubai is said to be eyeing attracting 20 million visitors per year by 2020, an increase from close to 15 million in 2016. If you are looking to travel to Dubai, get in touch with Y-Axis, a very popular immigration consultancy company, to apply for a tourist visa from one of its several global offices.