Eid Al Adha travel: UAE residents seek holidays to Asian destinations amid Schengen visa woes, high airfares

Eid Al Adha travel: UAE residents seek holidays to Asian destinations amid Schengen visa woes, high airfares

Dubai: UAE travellers are making a beeline to holiday destinations like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore as an alternative to popular European spots for the upcoming Eid Al Adha holidays in the last week of June. Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and UAE-based travel experts are saying UAE residents are increasingly choosing countries in the Far East, and islands in the Indian Ocean, as their preferred holiday spot amid the ongoing delays in getting Schengen visa appointments, skyrocketing airfares, and airport disruptions at European and UK destinations. Mike Ferguson, Director of Destination Marketing at Skyscanner, said: “The majority of trending destinations for Q2 and Q3 travel are in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, with Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan benefitting.” Even Sri Lanka is opening up in a big way, according to Zahara D’souza, a Dubai-based travel specialist associated with Travel Counsellors. In fact, according to Nick Hall, the CEO of Digital Tourism Think Tank, Albania is the only trending European destination in the top 10, which is seeing an increased search demand year-on-year for EMEA travellers. For travel to Albania, all UAE travellers must do is fill up an application for an e-visa issued online. Since UAE carriers (flydubai,