Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Bahrain has announced their plans to increase the number of annual tourists to the kingdom to 14.1 million by 2026.
The kingdom is also considering boosting average daily visitor spend to BHD74.8 ($199) and increase the average stay to 3.5 days.
Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed bin Rashid AlZayani revealed these plans as part of the new 2022 to 2016 tourism strategy. The objective is to increase tourism’s contribution to the country’s GDP.
To quote AlZayani, “When the strategy was launched in 2015, the travel and tourism sector represented less than 4 percent of the gross domestic product. Tourism’s contribution to GDP has grown to approximately 7 percent. This was a result of the efforts and initiatives launched by the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority.”
He revealed the strategy’s framework, which includes four main objectives: increasing the contribution of tourism to GDP to reach 11.4 percent in 2026, highlighting Bahrain’s position as a global tourist hub, increasing the number of targeted countries to attract more tourists, and expanding tourism products.
The tourism strategy is based on seven pillars. These include developing marine attractions, business tourism, sports tourism, recreational tourism, medical tourism, cultural tourism, and media tourism and cinematography.
The new tourism strategy comes after the implementation of major national tourism projects. These include the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Center in Sakhir. It is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority is also developing several tourism projects, which include the diving waterfront, the Bahrain Bay beach project and the Qalali Coast waterfront.
Projects like the Mantis Hotel and Resort in the Hawar Islands; the Jumeirah Bahrain Bay Resort; the Tourist City project; the BilajAljazayer Beach development project and the Saada project are expected to be completed by January 2023.
Tags: bahrain
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
