Expatriates join Bahraini citizens to fuel outbound tourism in new pandemic season trend

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The pandemic season has drastically changed the travel perspectives of expatriates in the Kingdom, for they constitute a significant share of outbound tourists during the ongoing travel season.

Sources within the travel and tourism industry reveal that, drawing a sharp dissimilarity to the previous years, many expatriates – both alone and in families – are following suit of Bahrain and Arab nationals to become globetrotters.

Speaking to The Daily Tribune, Jehad Amin, Co-owner and Managing Director of House of Travel and the President of the Association of Bahrain Travel and Tours Agents, said the trend could be attributed to restrictions and regulations in their home countries.

“Most of the expatriates here are from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Philippines. The regulatory frameworks in these countries, owing to the COVID-19 situation, are a major contributor to this trend,” Amin said. Adnan Gilitwala, Director, Dadabhai Travel, said the pandemic has had a major impact on the travel perspectives of the expatriate communities.

“Earlier, expatriates were very much used to travelling back home. The COVID lockdown served as an eye opener and now no-one takes travelling for granted,” Gilitwala said.

Echoing a similar view, C D Singh, General Manager of Bahrain International Travel, said Sri Lanka, Maldives and Georgia have emerged as the top destinations for expatriates during the season. “Expatriates, in general, are worried about going home because of the restrictions there.

We must also acknowledge the big change in their outlook, post COVID situation,” Singh said. Omicron fear has hardly affected outbound tourism.

“Demand for Europe has fallen and there also have been cancellations for Europe. This is because of countries across Europe adhering to strict protocols to tackle the Omicron threat,” Gilitwala pointed out. Amin said outbound tourism has been very active during the past two weeks.

“Dubai is undoubtedly the number one destination followed by Turkey, London and Riyadh. Omicron has shifted some traffic, leading to cancellations, but this is only a small part of the picture,” he explained. Singh said that the situation has really improved when compared to last year.

“Outbound tourism demands are quite strong despite Omicron fear. As always, Bahrainis are preferring Turkey, mainly due to the devaluation of Turkish Lira along with the attractive offerings Turkey has,” Singh said.

“Expatriates are preferring destinations such as Maldives, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Strict quarantine rules in Southeast Asia have made the countries in the region including Thailand and Malaysia look less attractive.”