Dubai: Many UAE residents are planning their holiday destinations around places where they can get visa on arrival or apply for e-visa. According to travel agents in UAE, there are no appointments available for Schengen visa for the near time, prompting travellers from UAE to look at places for holiday where visas are easy to procure. “Albania, Georgia, Kenya, Israel are among top destinations where UAE residents are travelling to this Eid Al Adha,” said Piljo Paul, senior consultant at AFC Holidays.
Paul added that e-visa charges can be as low as $6 or around Dh22 (for Armenia) for UAE residents. E-visa charges for Kenya are around $50. Essentially, for little money and practically no elaborate effort to apply for a visa, there are a number of places that offer attractive holiday destinations for UAE residents.
Sophia Tamang, a tourism strategy consultant in Dubai, said: “For Emirati travellers, Zakopane in Poland is trending big time. Zakopane is a town in the extreme south of Poland, right at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. It is very scenic and beautiful. There are a number of beautiful chalets here that are attractive. Poland allows visa on arrival for Emiratis, so it is convenient. Many families are travelling there for the summer. Bosnia and Herzegovina are two other destinations attractive for Emiratis due to easy access to Halal food and due to the scenic beauty.”
Tamang said expat Arabs are trending towards Trabzon and Istanbul in Turkey. “They are also heading to Azerbaijan. Other expats like Indians and Filipinos are travelling to Georgia, Azerbaijan, Bali, Seychelles, Maldives, Mauritius for the ease of visa,” she said.
Sri Lankan expatriate Sanath K. said he and his family would be heading to Kenya for the summer break. “There are some amazing deals doing the rounds. We are taking advantage of this. Unfortunately, I wanted to take my family to Switzerland, but that was not possible. We did not get appointments for Schengen visa. I really hope the backlog gets cleared for many of us who want to restart our holidays to Europe.”
Priyadarshee Panigrahi, Dubai resident and senior business management professional just got lucky. He and his family have a valid Schengen visa that is just about to expire and so they are travelling to Switzerland for Eid Al Adha. “We just got lucky. Our Schengen visa will be valid until just after Eid Al Adha. Otherwise, there was just no way we could have travelled to our favourite destination in the world.
"A part of our family is based near Zurich and we haven’t seen them for more than three years now, primarily due to the pandemic. Apart from the strong desire to meet them, the presence of valid Schengen visas on our passports made our choice of destination quite easy. Our children are very excited as they would get to see their cousins in person after a long time. Though we have been to Switzerland many times, ours is an outdoors family and we do plan to do a couple of hikes on the many beautiful hiking trails offered by Switzerland. Such hikes are really refreshing and reinvigorating.”
British expatriate Christopher Ayris and his fiancée Rebecca Malhotra are heading to Austria and Prague and they too are lucky. This is because for Christopher, a visa is not required in advance for both these countries. As for Rebecca, she has a valid Schengen visa.
The couple booked their holidays well in advance. “We knew that this year over the summer, Europe would be busy and expensive. That is why we started planning in late April and early May for the Eid Al Adha break.”
Some affordable holiday destinations
Kataisi, Georgia
Price: Dh1,099 per person on twin-sharing basis.
Duration: Three nights, four days.
Inclusions: Hotel accommodation and spa, flights (20kg checked-in luggage allowance), travel insurance, airport transfers, all taxes.
Baku, Azerbaijan
Price: Dh1,199 per person on twin-sharing basis.
Duration: Three nights, four days.
Inclusions: Hotel accommodation and spa, flights (20kg checked-in luggage), travel insurance, airport transfers and all taxes.
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Price: Dh1,399
Duration: Three nights, four days.
Inclusions: Hotel accommodation and spa, flights (20kg checked-in luggage), travel insurance, airport transfers and all taxes.
Tirana, Albania
Price: Dh1,599 per person on twin-sharing basis.
Duration: Five nights, six days.
Inclusions: Hotel accommodation and spa, flights (20kg checked-in luggage), travel insurance, airport transfers and all taxes.
Athens and Santorini, Greece
Price: Dh3,999 per person on twin-sharing basis.
Duration: Five nights, six days
Deal: Includes, hotel accommodation and spa, flights (20kg checked-in luggage), travel insurance, airport transfers and all taxes.
Tsakhadzor and Yereva, Armenia (mountain experience)
Price: Dh1,499 per person on twin-sharing basis.
Duration: Four nights, five days.
Inclusions: Hotel accommodation and spa, flights (20kg checked-in luggage), travel insurance, airport transfers and all taxes.
Gabala and Baku, Azerbaijan
Price: Dh2,999
Duration: Four nights, five days.
Inclusions: Hotel accommodation, flights, travel insurance, airport transfers and all taxes.
Zanzibar, Tanzania
Price: Dh4,299
Duration: Four nights, five days.
Inclusions: Hotel accommodation, flights, travel insurance, airport transfers and all taxes.
Bangkok, Thailand
Price: Dh4,299
Duration: Four nights, five days.
Inclusions: Hotel accommodation, flights, travel insurance, airport transfers and all taxes.
Belgrade and Zlatibor, Serbia
Price: Dh4,799 per person on twin-sharing basis.
Duration: Four nights, five days
Inclusions: Hotel accommodation, flights, travel insurance, airport transfers and all taxes.
Source: All holiday packages are from Holiday Factory and AFC Holidays. Extra optional tours available for all packages. All prices are subject to change.
