Bahrain unveils new tourism strategy, targets 11.4% contribution to National GDP 14.1m tourists by 2026

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani, the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, yesterday launched the new 2022 - 2026 tourism strategy for the Kingdom, intending to attract 14.1 million tourists by 2026. The new plan, Al Zayani said, is based on four strategies and rely on seven pillars.

The plan

The focus is on facilitating entry into Kingdom, diversifying and developing tourist attractions, marketing and promoting tourism via “Gulf Air” in partnership with the private sector, and enhancing tourist accommodation.

While developing marine attractions, business tourism, sports tourism, recreational tourism, medical tourism, cultural tourism, media tourism and cinematography are the pillars of the strategy.

Main objectives

“The main objectives of the plan are to highlight Bahrain as a global tourist hub, increase the contribution of the tourism sector to GDP, increase the number of targeted countries and diversify tourism products,” the minister said during a press conference at Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre.

The new strategy, the minister said, aims to achieve a financial return of up to 2 billion dinars as total incoming tourism expenditures in the year 2026.

“It also aims to achieve a contribution rate of 11.4% to GDP,” the minister said.

14.1 million tourists

“All these are for increasing the number of tourists arriving in Bahrain to 14.1 million by 2026, average tourist night to 3.5 days, and daily visitor spend to BD74.8,” the minister added.

AlZayani, also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority, said the tourism plan would contribute to the national economy, increase the Kingdom’s competitiveness, and attract further investments.

The 2016-2019 strategy, the minister said, achieved its goals, despite challenging situations.

“In 2015, the travel and tourism sector represented less than 4% of the gross domestic product.”

Now, its contribution to the GDP is 7%.”

“We will further increase the efforts to ensure the success of the new strategy, for which we have also identified best travel agents in the main global markets,” the minister said.

The projects

Supporting the new strategy will be projects including the Al Dana Theatre and the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre in Sakhir, expected to complete by the end of next year.

BTEA is also developing several tourism projects, including the diving waterfront, the Bahrain Bay beach project, and the Qalali Coast waterfront.

Tourism hub

The minister also stressed the importance of these national tourism projects to showcase Bahrain as a destination.

The Mantis Hotel and Resort in the Hawar Islands, the Jumeirah Bahrain Bay Resort, the Tourist City project, the Bilaj Aljazayer Beach development project, and the Saada project are some of the other upcoming projects, which will complete by January 2023. $2.5 billion investment

The move also follows the initiatives outlined by the Economic Development Board to develop key economic sectors, including oil and gas, tourism, logistics, manufacturing, financial services and Telecommunication IT, and the digital economy.

EDB had said the focus is on furthering economic growth and attracting direct investments across vital economic sectors.

The move, EDB had said, aims at attracting US$2.5 billion in direct investment by 2023.