One single visa to travel throughout the GCC would greatly help tourism and boost business across the region, opined a diplomat.

'I would encourage this sort of visa to be put in place without delay but, of course, it's a GCC decision,' Gerhard Bruegger, Swiss consul general, was quoted as saying in the Gulf News.

Switzerland announced in a press conference that it was less than a month away from being admitted to the Schengen visa accord. The diplomat was speaking on the sidelines of the press conference.

The Schengen visa covers 15 European countries and allows free travel in all the countries in the program. Travellers holding the visa do not need to undergo passport checks.