Bahrain’s tourism sector sees significant recovery
Bahrain has witnessed a significant recovery in the tourism sector during the first quarter of the year, specifically with regard to organising and hosting exhibitions and conferences.
The kingdom hosted a number of prominent tournaments and events of global and regional fame, which will contribute to strengthening this vital sector in the post-pandemic period.
This indicates a return of normal life in the kingdom, which will contribute to promoting economic growth and will reflect positively on various productive sectors.
The Finance and National Economy Ministry recently issued a quarterly economic report on the performance of economic sectors during the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in the previous year, showing that the hotel and restaurant industry topped the non-oil sectors in terms of performance at fixed prices, achieving a 31.7pc growth, as the average hotel occupancy growth amounted to 65.4pc.
Such performance, however, appears to be heading towards further growth and improvement with an increase in organising events and conferences of regional and global reputation.
The kingdom’s hosting of the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022 from March 17 to 22, 2020 played a major role in supporting and revitalising the tourism movement in the kingdom. The four-day race achieved a great success and a remarkable turnout of 98,000 people, while 35,000 people attended on the day of the race, which represented a record in the history of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Economic Development Board (EDB) sought to benefit from the Formula 1 season as part of its role in promoting Bahrain and attracting investments to contribute to creating jobs locally. It organised a trip for a group of investors to inform them about Bahrain’s economic benefits, which coincided with the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022. The investors represented a number of sectors including industry, logistics, financial services, tourism and medical care. They represented a number of target markets, including the Gulf markets, the USA, India and the UK.
Bahrain also hosted the first exhibition of artworks with non-fungible token technology (NFT) in the Middle East and North Africa (NFT Mena Exhibit 2022), which was held under the patronage of the National Council of Arts chairman Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa in co-operation with ‘Dar Al Fan’. The exhibition and conference featured several discussions presented by a number of speakers from the public and private sectors. They covered a number of issues related to technology and art, specifically the NFT Technology.
The exhibition was attended by artists from Bahrain, the region and the world, and presented creative works by artists such as Lina Al Ayoubi Adnan Al Ahmad among others. They reviewed the process of entering the world of NFT step by step. The exhibition also included workshops under the supervision of experts in the field and educational sessions for artists and amateurs, which increases the contribution of art and culture industry to the national economy.
The Harvard International Forum on Covid-19 was the culmination of Bahrain’s experience in addressing the pandemic. It started late in March with the participation of a group of prominent specialists in the healthcare sector. The latest developments and mechanisms adopted to address the coronavirus pandemic were discussed.
During the forum, the effective strategies applied by Bahrain in dealing with the virus were reviewed, which enabled the kingdom to achieve distinguished results at various levels of response to date. The kingdom provided citizens and residents with examination, treatment and vaccine free of charge and implemented the required procedures in compliance with international standards and World Health Organisation’s recommendations. It also developed an integrated media strategy to face the challenge through all possible scenarios, immediately and proactively, and launched continuous awareness campaigns based on developments using various media channels and languages.
The forum also included the participation of international speakers specialising in healthcare institutions from around the world, and researchers who contributed their efforts to the preparation of scientific research related to the coronavirus. Genomic surveillance and testing of the Covid-19 pandemic and therapeutic efforts to address the virus, establishing oral care medicine during the pandemic and the impact of the pandemic on social platforms and the global response to the coronavirus experience were reviewed.
Source: https://www.gdnonline.com/Details/1048853/Bahrain%E2%80%99s-tourism-sector-sees-significant-recovery
