Travel agency in Dubai: licence and requirements

Dubai is one of the world’s great transit hubs, and around it lives an entire sector of agencies that sell tickets, organise tours and handle visas for travellers from across the region. To set up a travel agency with a company of your own, the official list offers a specific activity — with two requirements that set it apart from most service sheets and that are worth knowing before you budget.

The activity is “Travel Agency” (وكيل سفر وسياحة), activity 7911004 of the ISIC classification, and it exists in two lists: in the DMCC list with code 6304-02 and a Service licence, and in the IFZA list as a Professional licence, with the same official description. This guide reviews what it allows, what each route requires — approval from the civil aviation regulator in both; a physical office only in DMCC — and how it is taxed.

The official activity: what it allows

The activity covers those who sell outbound air tickets and provide the related services: accommodation, visas, tour organisation and transport. It also includes the sale of travel programmes organised by outbound tour operators — that is, the agency can market the tour operators’ packages, not only its own services.

The requirements that set it apart

Two conditions separate this sheet from the standard service activity:

1. Civil aviation approval. The activity is classified as regulated and requires the approval of a third party: the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority. The IFZA sheet pins it down in time: the approval is required before the licence is issued. In practice, the incorporation timeline includes an extra step — the sector sign-off — that is worth starting early and documenting well, because the licence depends on it.
2. Physical office — only in DMCC. The DMCC sheet requires physical office space as the registered address, instead of the flexi desk that suffices for most service activities. The IFZA sheet, by contrast, does not require a physical office, and publishes no minimum capital either — it is the lighter route for the same activity, with the same DCAA approval. The choice between the two zones is, above all, a decision of budget and positioning.

The activity’s perimeter also has its own reading: the sheet describes the outbound agency — outbound tickets and outbound operators’ programmes. If your model includes other branches of tourism — inbound tourism, operating your own tours within the country — it is worth checking with the authority which complementary activities apply before licensing.

Taxes for the agency

The framework is that of a services company in the Emirates, with one operational particularity: the agency moves third parties’ money — tickets, hotels, packages — alongside its own commissions and margins. On VAT, services to local clients are taxed at 5% and supplying clients outside the country can qualify for the 0% rate under the conditions of the regulations; VAT registration is mandatory once you exceed AED 375,000 of annual taxable turnover. On profits, Corporate Tax at 9% above AED 375,000. The accounting that separates, from the first transaction, the amount collected on the supplier’s behalf from the agency’s own commission is the basis of an orderly tax close in this sector.

Steps to set up the agency

1. Activity and scope: confirm that the outbound sheet covers your real model and add complementary activities if the project needs them.
2. Sector approval: start the procedure with the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority as part of the licence file.
3. Structure and capital: a company with AED 50,000 of share capital and a Service-type licence.
4. Physical office: contract the office space the sheet requires, sized to the team.
5. Visas for the founder and the agency’s staff.
6. VAT and accounting from the start, with the separation between supplier funds and the agency’s commissions defined before the first sale.

Conclusion

The Travel Agency activity is available through two routes: DMCC — a Service licence, AED 50,000 of capital and a physical office — and IFZA — a Professional licence, with no mandatory office and no published minimum capital. What does not change is the regulator: on both, the approval of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority fits into the incorporation timeline before the licence is issued. With that piece resolved and the zone chosen according to budget and positioning, the agency operates from one of the region’s largest outbound and transit markets, with a clear tax structure and no territorial restriction.