MoU set to further boost tourism statistics system

The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Information and eGovernment Authority to implement the fourth phase of the ‘Tourism Statistics Development’ Programme. Since 2015, BTEA has been working to develop a national tourism statistics system and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), in line with international recommendations and standards of the World Tourism Organization and the United Nations Statistics Division.

Before 2015, there were only rough and fragmented estimates about the tourism sector’s performance in the Kingdom; without taking into account different kinds of tourism sources and tourism activities. However in the three last years alone, by collaborating with various public and private entities, the Kingdom has developed sufficient information concerning the supply and demand in the tourism sector.

This milestone achievement was highlighted in the assessments carried out by delegations from World Tourism Organisation and the GCC Statistical Centre; where the continued progress in tourism statistical reporting and establishment of new data gathering resources in the Kingdom of Bahrain were praised.

The Chief Executive Officer of BTEA, Shaikh Khaled bin Humood Al Khalifa, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Information and eGovernment Authority, Mohammed Ali Al Qaed, signed an agreement to implement the ‘Tourism Statistics Development’ Program for the full year 2019-2020.

The programme will include over a thousand tourism facilities located in different areas across Bahrain for a whole year, measuring the production associated with accounts of industries serving incoming visitors in addition to the number of employees in these industries with the percentages of Bahrainisation and ratio of females working in the tourism industry.