The UAE government’s announcement about granting visas on arrival for Russians will boost visitor numbers to the country, tourism executives said on Monday. Russian visitors can now be issued a 30-day visa on arrival that can be renewed for another 30 days. The effective date and cost of the visa is not immediately available. Travel agents are known to charge anywhere between Dh350 for a one-month visa and Dh1,200 for a three-month visa with an average of two days waiting period. "Russian travellers normally make a decision for travelling abroad at the last moment and a visa on arrival will help to choose the UAE as vacation destination and increase arrivals," said Edward Grigoriev, the country manager for Russia and CIS markets at Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority.

Russian holidaymakers are returning to Dubai hotels as the rebounding rouble boosts their purchasing power. Travellers from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are making a comeback, Dubai hoteliers say. And this is helping to increase occupancy in properties across the emirate over the holiday season. The rouble has gained 19 per cent against the US dollar since January, making it the world’s best-performing currency so far this year.

On Friday, November 18, it became known that the company Coral Travel has decided to terminate its charter flights from Perm to Dubai. Such decision the tour operator explains by low loading of this direction. “The airline company Royal Flight (which main customer is Coral Travel) will perform the last flight to Dubai on November 28”, according to "Kommersant-Prikamye" news agency.

“United Arab Emirates Ras al-Khaimah is the second best in popularity among the Russian tourists. The first is Dubai”, - said the Director General of Tourism Development Department of the Emirate of Haitham Mattar at the "Leisure" exhibition.

According to tour operators, the summer tourist flow to UAE has increased this year in three - four times - said the Russian Association of Tour Operators (ATOR) on Friday. According to tourist industry’s representatives, the closure of Egypt and Turkey affects on the demand. The increase of sales to United Arab Emirates in 3-4 times was noted in the company "PAKS".

Experts say that it is too far from the sea. “Deputy Prime Minister of UAE Sheikh Mohammed launches the "City of the Future» - Jumeirah Central in Dubai”, - informed the local newspaper “The National”. The cost of the project - which includes construction of residential facilities for 35 thousand people and 7,200 hotel rooms - more than 20 billion dollars.