Will continue working with airlines, OTAs & travel agents across India to build on demand: DCT Abu Dhabi top executive

In a Q&A with ET, Abdulla Yousuf, Director of International Operations at DCT Abu Dhabi talks about the new visa subsidy programme and the importance of Indian arrivals for the market:

Q: How are you expecting this programme to help with Indian arrivals?

The programme gives Indian travellers an additional reason to choose Abu Dhabi when planning an international holiday, particularly during the August to October booking period. By covering the visa cost for eligible travellers staying for a minimum of three nights, we are making it easier and more attractive for travellers those planning a trip to consider Abu Dhabi, particularly families and larger travelling parties.


The visa fee covered under the programme is AED 285, and those eligible travellers will receive a 30-day UAE visit visa. This allows them to stay beyond the three-night minimum, supporting our wider aim of Travellers can of course stay longer, which is important because we want to encouraging visitorse people to spend more time in Abu Dhabi the emirate and experience its attractions, culture, hospitality and leisure offering.

The programme is being delivered through travel trade partners and OTAs, allowing the visa benefit to be packaged alongside included with flights, accommodation, attractions and experiences. This gives travel advisors a clear offer that they can present to their customers and use as part of an Abu Dhabi holiday package, making it easier to package and sell the destination allowing them to experience everything on offer.

Q: How has the initial response been?

It is still early to assess the full impact of the programme, but we are seeing good engagement from the participating travel trade partners. We are working closely with them participating partners to understand how customers are responding to the offer and how this is translating into bookings. Once the programme concludes is completed in October, we will then review and assess bookings, length of stay and the overall demand generated to understand its impact.

Q: Could you expand the network of travel partners under this programme?

We are working with a selected group of Indian travel partners and OTAs at the outset, including MakeMyTrip, Thrillophilia, Akbar Holidays, Thomas Cook India and SOTC Travel, Pickyourtrail, Royal Tours, Utazzo, Riya Holidays, Holiday Tribe, Kesari Tours and Aaryan Leisure & Holidays. These partners have established distribution networks across the Indian market and can take the offer directly to customers through their existing sales and booking channels.

Our The collaboration is important because, as agents and tour operators can package the visa benefit as part of a complete Abu Dhabi holiday, rather than presenting it simply as a visa offer. That gives travellers a clearer reason to consider the destination while and givinges our partners another tool to use when speaking to their customers.

As we continue to assess the programme's reception, we will also look atassess opportunities of to expanding the network to other partners.

Q: Any targets in terms of reaching a certain number of Indian arrivals?

We have not set a separate Indian arrivals target specifically for this programme. It has an allocation of 20,000 eligible visas, but we see this as a pilot to understand how this type of offer can support demand. For context, in 2025 alone the emirate welcomed 436,124 Indian hotel guests, an increase of 22 per cent compared with 2024. We will continue working with airlines, OTAs, tour operators and travel agents across India to build on this demand.

For us, the more important measures will be the bookings generated, how long travellers stay and whether the programme encourages them travellers to choose Abu Dhabi for a longer holiday rather than simply using the emirate as a short stopover.