Opening a Tourism Company in Dubai: Travel Agency Licence, Bank Guarantee and Costs

Table of Contents

Why Dubai Works for a Travel Agency

According to figures published by the Dubai Media Office on 9 February 2026, the emirate closed 2025 with 19.59 million international overnight visitors, a 5% increase on the previous year. Hotel occupancy reached 80.7%, the average daily rate stood at AED 579, and the average length of stay was 3.7 nights. For an agency, the operative point is not the headline number but its shape: demand here is a year-round flow rather than a short season.

Demand That Does Not Collapse Out of Season

December 2025 became the first single month above two million visitors, at 2.04 million. European winter demand and Gulf and Asian summer demand offset each other, which for an inbound operator means a revenue calendar that is not compressed into a handful of months.

A Predictable and Low Tax Base

The UAE levies no personal income tax. Corporate tax is 0% on taxable profit up to AED 375,000 and 9% above that threshold. In ticketing and tour packaging, where margins are measured in a few percentage points, that difference lands directly in working capital.

A Hub Across Three Continents

Dubai International Airport and the route networks of Emirates and flydubai make transit passengers, MICE groups and connected tour packages straightforward to build across Europe, Asia and Africa. A licensed agency can also support long-term residency routes; see our Dubai Golden Visa service for the detail.

The Four Tourism Licence Categories and Who Each One Suits

Most guides describe three licence types. Article 2 of Regulation No. 6 of 2006 actually sets out four. The choice is not administrative housekeeping: it fixes your bank guarantee, your insurance obligation and the services you are permitted to sell.

Travel and Tourism Agent

Air ticketing, hotel reservations, transfers and visa support fall here. This is the starting point for a classic retail agency selling directly to travellers.

Inbound Tour Operator

City tours, desert safaris, guiding and event delivery for visitors arriving in Dubai. For teams able to build a local supplier network, this is usually where the margin sits.

Outbound Tour Operator

Selling international tour packages and tickets to UAE residents. Because customer money is collected before the service is delivered, the regulatory guarantee is highest in this category.

Appointed General Agent for Airlines

The GSA structure, selling on behalf of one or more carriers. It is the least discussed category in the market yet it has its own heading in the regulation.

Bank Guarantee: AED 100,000 or AED 200,000?

Competing guides contradict each other on this point, and a large share of them are simply wrong. Article 5(9) of Regulation No. 1 of 2009 sets two separate amounts: AED 200,000 for an appointed agent of one or more airlines and for an overseas tour organiser, and AED 100,000 for a tourism and travel agent and for a local tour organiser. The guarantee must remain valid unless the licence is revoked.

The same regulation obliges inbound and outbound operators to insure tourists and travellers against all risks and damage. No fixed sum is stated in the text, so treat any article quoting a precise professional indemnity figure with caution.

Office Space and Manager Qualification Rules

The 40 m² Independent Office Requirement

Regulation No. 6 of 2006 requires independent office space of not less than 40 square metres for each licensed activity. In practice this rules out virtual offices and shared desks for a mainland tourism licence. The lease is evidenced through a registered tenancy contract (Ejari) and forms a mandatory part of the file.

Manager Experience and Qualification

Regulation No. 1 of 2009 sets a concrete threshold for the appointed manager: three years of tourism experience with a university degree or certificate majoring in tourism and travel, or five years with a general secondary school certificate. Qualifications must be duly attested. A meaningful share of rejected applications trace back to this clause being addressed only at the end of the process.

Mainland or Free Zone?

The decision reduces to one question: who is your customer? Selling directly to end users inside Dubai points to a mainland structure. A B2B model, an export-facing operation or a purely online platform makes a free zone worth considering.

One 2025 change matters here. Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025 requires free zone establishments to hold a DET licence or permit in order to conduct activities inside mainland Dubai, with a free zone branch licence set at AED 10,000 per year and a temporary permit of up to six months at AED 5,000. The idea that a flexi-desk in a free zone lets you sell tours across Dubai does not survive contact with this rule. Our Dubai mainland company formation page covers the alternative in detail.

What It Costs to Open a Travel Agency in Dubai

The reason nobody publishes a clean answer is that two very different sets of numbers get merged into one. Official fees are fixed in legislation and are low. Market items — office, guarantee, visas, advisory — are not fixed at all. Separating them is the only way to build a usable budget.

Official Fees Set in Legislation

Market-Driven Items

The official fees above rest on the 2006 and 2011 schedules and can be revised. Market items are observed ranges only. Confirm current amounts with DET and the Federal Tax Authority before committing a budget.

The Setup Process, Step by Step

1. Choose the activity and licence category. Agent, inbound or outbound — this decides your guarantee.
2. Reserve the trade name. It must follow UAE naming rules and avoid conflicts with known marks.
3. Obtain initial approval. Handled through the DED service portal and capable of completing within minutes.
4. Lease the office and register Ejari. Independent space meeting the 40 m² threshold.
5. Appoint the manager and attest documents. Degrees and experience letters go through apostille or consular attestation.
6. Arrange the bank guarantee letter. Correct amount for the category, with open-ended validity.
7. Secure DET tourism approval and licence issuance. A complete file moves quickly at this stage.
8. Open the corporate bank account. In practice the longest step; plan it early with our UAE bank account opening support.
9. Complete visas and tax registrations. Investor and staff visas, corporate tax and VAT registration.

No official end-to-end timeline is published by DET, so promises of a fixed two-week completion deserve scepticism. What actually determines the calendar is document attestation and the bank account stage.

IATA Accreditation and Ticket Issuance

The tourism licence and IATA accreditation are routinely conflated. The DET licence is what permits you to trade; IATA accreditation is a separate, optional status that lets you issue airline tickets in your own name. Many new agencies spend their first years issuing through a consolidator or a GDS partner instead, because the financial security requirements of accreditation are heavy at launch. The trade-off is a slightly thinner margin per transaction in exchange for materially less cash locked up.

Taxation: 9% Corporate Tax and 5% VAT

Corporate tax applies at 0% on taxable profit up to AED 375,000 and 9% above it. Businesses with revenue at or below AED 3,000,000 may elect Small Business Relief, but that relief only applies to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2026. Building a second-year budget on the assumption that it continues is a real risk for a newly licensed agency.

VAT is charged at the standard 5% rate, with mandatory registration at AED 375,000 and voluntary registration at AED 187,500. Travel and tourism services are standard-rated; international passenger transport is zero-rated. Our Dubai tax consultancy team can structure the reporting side.

Where Applications Usually Go Wrong

• Budgeting AED 100,000 for an outbound licence when the requirement is AED 200,000.
• Leaving the manager qualification to the end and finding no attested evidence is available.
• Assuming a free zone licence permits direct tour sales inside mainland Dubai.
• Applying with a flexi-desk instead of the required 40 m² office.
• Omitting the bank account stage from the launch timeline entirely.

Certain tourism activities attract additional authority approvals; our Dubai sectoral permits page sets out the scope. The wider framework for tourism companies is covered in our guide on how to start a tourism company in Dubai.

Sources

• Dubai Legislation Portal — Regulation No. 6 of 2006 on Travel Companies
• Dubai Legislation Portal — Regulation No. 1 of 2009 (guarantee and manager requirements)
• UAE Government Portal — Corporate tax
• Federal Tax Authority — VAT registration thresholds
• Dubai Media Office — 2025 tourism performance (9 February 2026)
• Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET)