As the UAE National Day holiday approaches, many residents who had planned European getaways are instead turning to alternative destinations after running into lengthy delays securing Schengen visa appointments. Travel agents say appointment wait times for some Schengen countries now stretch to 45 days, while others require up to two months — timelines that don't fit the UAE's short National Day break this year, which falls midweek on a Wednesday. "For some Schengen countries, appointments are available after 45 days, while for others, the wait can stretch to two months," said Subair Thekepurathvalappil of Wise Fox Tourism. Bharath Aidasani of Pluto Travels said demand has shifted toward destinations with faster, simpler visa processes. "People are looking for getaways where the visa process is easy and does not take long," he said. As a result, agents report rising bookings to Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Montenegro, the Seychelles, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Albania, the Maldives, Malaysia, Indonesia and China — all markets residents can enter with far less paperwork and waiting time than a Schengen application currently demands. National Day packages to these destinations start from Dh2,799 and typically run three to six nights, agents said, a format built specifically around this year's midweek holiday rather than a longer break. The shift highlights how processing bottlenecks in one visa system can quickly redirect an entire travel season's demand toward markets that can move faster.