A circular issued by the Department of Culture and Tourism — Abu Dhabi (DCT — Abu Dhabi), addressed to “Hotel and Tourism Establishments General Managers, Event Organisers and Venues Owners, Museums, Cultural and Leisure Venues”, has confirmed that tourists entering Abu Dhabi from temporarily docked cruise ships will no longer need to show an Green Pass Alhosn green pass in order to enter “tourism attractions and establishments” in the emirate.

To gain access to these locations, they’ll simply need to show the cruise cards or wristbands.

Circular Cruise ship passengers and crew are no longer required to follow the Green Pass procedures in order to enter tourist attractions and establishments. Instead, they can enter using cards or wristbands issued by cruise ships.

The updates to the UAE’s policy on wearing masks inside were the biggest headline grabbers from the recent NCEMA announcement on pandemic safety policy, but there were also some huge concessions made to the Alhosn Green Pass — most importantly, that fully vaccinated individuals can get a 30 day Green Pass off the back of a negative PCR, whereas those who are partially or unvaccinated can now get a pass for seven days.

Cruises were one of the first forms of tourism to be restricted from Abu Dhabi during the pandemic. They were also one of the first, with strict policies on ensuring public safety, channels of mass transit tourism to be reintroduced. Based on this, it is possible to see the cruise industry in Abu Dhabi as something of an indicator of overall policy change, or at least a good test of which way the prevailing administrational winds are blowing.