DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates
announced that it will resume issuing visas to all tourists fully vaccinated
against COVID from Monday, a month before Dubai hosts the delayed Expo 2020
trade fair.
اضافة اعلان
The move comes amid a drop in coronavirus infections in the
oil-rich Gulf country, after it reported less than 1,000 cases per day last
week for the first time in months.
The UAE's decision to reopen its doors to tourists from all
countries was taken in order "to achieve sustainable recovery and economic
growth", the official WAM news agency reported on Saturday.
Those eligible would have to be fully inoculated with one of
the COVID-19 vaccines approved by the World Health Organization, which includes
AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, Sinopharm, and
Sinovac.
"The decision applies to citizens of all countries,
including those arriving from previously banned countries," WAM said.
"Passengers arriving on tourist visas must take a
mandatory PCR test at the airport," it added.
The UAE is made up of seven emirates including the capital
Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
While life in the country has largely returned to normal
amid the COVID pandemic, it continues to enforce strict rules on wearing masks
and social distancing.
Dubai was last year counting on the six-month Dubai
Expo 2020 — delayed a year by the health crisis and now set to open in October — to
attract millions of visitors and boost the economy.
Heavily reliant on tourism, the emirate was one of the first
destinations to open its doors to travelers, accepting tourists in July last
year, just a few months after the pandemic took hold.
Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, has been more cautious, opening up to
some visitors only in December.
The UAE has so far recorded more than 715,000 cases of
COVID-19 infection, including 2,036 deaths.
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