Austria will welcome tourists from the UAE and GCC from July 1.
The European country famous for its ornate palaces and unspoiled nature reopens its doors to vaccinated travelers from more destinations starting next month, with unvaccinated children under 18 also invited to visit.
Fully vaccinated citizens and residents of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar will be able to travel to Austria without quarantine rules.
Six vaccines are accepted for travel: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sinopharm and Sinovac. Travelers are considered vaccinated for six months after their last dose.
To mark the return of travel, the Austrian Tourist Board has launched a campaign called Travel Builds Bridges, with the aim of “rebuilding the bridge between peoples and countries to once again celebrate the freedom of travel and tourism”.
We look forward to welcoming travelers from this region to Austria again
Robert Groblacher, Austrian National Tourist Board
The campaign is taking place in 15 countries and encourages travel to Austria for vacation, business, education and medical tourism.
“Welcoming GCC travelers is not only a revival of the tourist scene in Austria, it is also a great opportunity to explore and exchange experiences, strengthen intercultural ties and join forces to bring together people to better promote travel and tourism between Austria and the Gulf countries, ”said Robert Groblacher, director for the Middle East at the Austrian National Tourism Board.
“We look forward to welcoming travelers from this region to Austria again.”
Travelers from Saudi Arabia are already welcome to visit Austria as long as they can present a vaccination certificate, proof of recovery from Covid-19 or a negative PCR test.
Travelers with passports from the EU, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway can also already visit Austria for tourism purposes.
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Austria
Flights from the United Arab Emirates to Austria take around six and a half hours and there are several travel options.
From Abu Dhabi, Etihad will launch flights to Vienna from Sunday July 18 with prices starting from Dh 1,995.
Emirates flies directly to the Austrian capital from Dubai with fares starting at 1,800 Dh. The low-cost airline flydubai will operate flights from Dubai to Salzburg, the city of music, from Thursday 15 July.
Passengers arriving in the UAE capital from Austria will not have to self-quarantine as the country is on Abu Dhabi’s green list.
Elsewhere in the region, Qatar Airways flies three to four times a week from Doha to Vienna.
Saudi Arabia’s flynas and Saudia plan to add Austria to their networks by mid-July, giving travelers to the kingdom direct options for travel.
