Up to 30,000 travellers are expected to cross between the UAE and Oman at the Hatta border over the Eid holiday, officials have announced. Authorities said they would open four traffic lanes at the crossing to cope with the expected increase in demand. The Hatta border is one the busiest border posts between the two countries with about two million using it each year, according to the Dubai government. “We are expecting between 8,000 and 10,000 passengers crossing the border daily during the Holy occasion,” said Hamad Kajour, the director of Hatta Border Crossing. “For this we have dedicated four lanes to deal with the passenger traffic at rush hours, with more officers on duty who will help passengers and welcome them with a smile and Eid sweets.” Each Eid holiday, thousands of families travel between the UAE and Oman to visit relatives or simply to enjoy Oman’s cooler weather. Many travelled on Thursday last week to avoid the usual Eid rush. “I expected it to be busy because of Eid and the weekend but it wasn’t,” said Hilal Salim, a Sultan Qaboos University graduate who drove to Dubai with a friend on Thursday and crossed the Al Ain - Khatam Al Shikla border. “It was easy, I was less than half an hour at the border.”
