Sea Festival begins in Bahrain
Manama : Under the patronage of the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Zayed Bin Rashid Al Zayani, Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) yesterday launched the second edition of the ‘Sea Festival’ at the Bahrain Bay.
“The Sea Festival aims to revive the Kingdom’s legacy as well as educate visitors and tourists by integrating the past with the present. Visitors will also be exposed to traditional sea-related handicrafts and authentic diving equipment and learn about the history through modern technology in order to preserve it for the future generations,” said the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Zayed Bin Rashid Al Zayani.
“We are keen on promoting events like this as the tourism is growing this year, we are further experiencing more tourists coming to Bahrain this year,” the minister added.
The minister further revealed that the Kingdom is well on track to have tourism as the seven percent of the GDP by the end of 2018 as we are at 6.3pc now. “We see tourism as a growing sector in our economy, in future we see that we can easily achieve a double-digit out of our GDP,” he said.
Further detailing the ongoing projects to enhance tourism sector including the airport as well as Causeway expansion, the minister said that Bahrain is experiencing a big growth in cruise passengers this year. “Hopefully in April, we will cross a 100,000 visitors while last year we crossed 93,000 visitors,” he added.
The launch was held in the presence of the Chief Executive Officer of BTEA, Shaikh Khaled bin Humood Al Khalifa, representatives from the BTEA, the tourism sector, and the media.
Hosting this event comes as part of the BTEA’s long-term strategy to further develop the Kingdom’s tourism sector under the slogan of ‘Ours.Yours.’, which contributes towards the Kingdom’s economy and the 2030 Economic Vision.
The festival aims to showcase the Kingdom’s rich link to the sea tying it to several Bahraini sea related traditions and cultural activities by using the latest technologies.
“We are further glad to have the pearl merchants with us today as these families have been in this business for more than 100 years,” said Shaikh Khaled bin Humood Al Khalifa. “We are here to preserve it, promote it and make sure that it is a clear message to everyone that Bahrain is the pearl of the gulf.”
“We are supporting all the dhow makers,” he said adding: “This year we also have competition on how to build a dhow.”
The second edition of the Sea Festival also witnessed the launch of the first Bahrain Pearl Diving Programme and the first Bahrain Rowing & Canoe Centre.
Further commenting on the event, the CEO of BTEA, Shaikh Khaled bin Humood Al Khalifa stated: “Following the success of the first edition, we are delighted to host the festival once again this year which includes more fun and exciting activities for visitors. We also look forward to launching the ‘Bahrain Light Festival’ within the next few weeks.”
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