Bahrain: Unprecedented Investment Flows into 14 Strategic Tourism Development Projects
The number of tourists visiting Bahrain was 8.7 million visitors during the first nine months of 2017.
Manama - Obaid al-Suhaymi
Bahrain is eyeing sweeping development of its tourism infrastructure, giving the steadily growing sector a greater push, a senior official said.
Tourism contributes significantly to Bahrain's GDP, representing 6.3 percent of annual national revenues that amount to some $13 billion.
Bahrain’s Deputy Prime Minister and Mumtalakat Holding Company Chairman Sheikh Khalid Bin Abdullah Al Khalifa said tourism infrastructure in Bahrain is developing and delivering steadily on GDP charts.
The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that continuous Bahraini government care for the sector and implementation of work programs have allowed the tourism industry to thrive.
Bahrain is undergoing an unprecedented period of investments in tourism infrastructure with 14 strategic projects in sight.
Anticipated projects are expected to restructure tourism in Bahrain.
Expanding tourism projects is accompanied by Bahrain increasingly gaining popularity as a tourist attraction. Tourist rates rose by 12.8 percent, bringing the number of visitors to the Kingdom to 8.7 million during the first nine months of 2017.
More so, tourism ranked fourth in terms of attracting foreign investments, after the ICT sector, the industrial sector, the transport sector and logistics, accounting for 10 percent of total foreign investment coming into the country, according to a recent report by the Economic Development Board of Bahrain.
Bahrain seeks to promote the idea of cultural tourism as of 2018, establishing the city of Muharraq as a capital with rich Islamic culture.
In April, the Kingdom held the Bahrain Grand Prix, a Formula One Championship race in Bahrain sponsored by Gulf Air, attracting an estimated 100,000 visitors.
