Manama Gold Festival 2023 concludes with flying colours

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

The Manama Gold Festival 2023 second edition, under the patronage of Tourism Minister Fatima Bint Jaffer Al Sairafi, came to a successful close yesterday.

Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) board members, Souq Al Manama development committee members, representatives of the business community, and gold traders attended the closing ceremony held at Bab Al Bahrain.

This year’s edition witnessed a huge success, with 5,543 shoppers recorded over the course of 45 days, representing 61 nationalities worldwide, up 257% from 1,549 shoppers from 12 nationalities the previous year.

From April 13 to May 31, the festival hosted five weekly draws on a total of 62 raffle prizes, along with two grand prizes and 13 weekly winners.

It featured 416 gold, jewellery, and pearl shops in Souq Al Manama, up from 203 shops in the first version of 2022, a 105% increase.

This year’s festival provided weekly, instant, and grand prizes, as well as informative and artistic installations about Bahraini gold history by Bahraini artists and designers.

In addition to organising a pop-up market, including F&B trucks, women's outwear vendors, and wood crafts vendors.

Workshops were held specialising in gold, its types, price, raw gold, the art of goldsmithing, the art of designing and applying jewellery in the classroom, and 3D-style drawing on paper.

The festival also hosted live music shows featuring The Brother Guitarists, Hazem Alrawas, Silvia Saad, Abdulla Haji, Noor Albasri, and Basma Osman.

Positive impact

"We are delighted to bring the second edition of the Manama Gold Festival 2023 to a successful conclusion that has a positive impact by adding more splendour and glows to Souq Al Manama’s long-standing genuineness with its renowned trade and tourist history," Al Sairafi said.

"The festival’s success story will undoubtedly pave the way towards achieving the tourism strategy 2022-2026 and accelerating tourism development strides, which in turn will boost this promising industry’s contribution to the national economy."

Dr. Nasser Qaedi, CEO of BTEA, said: "We are pleased with the success of this festival, recording a high level of visitors attending this year’s festival from locals, expats, and tourists from around the globe."

The festival grossed around BD4 million with over 8,400 receipts, a 220% increase from BD1.25 million in 2022.

These overwhelming factors reflect the excellent reputation of Bahraini gold and jewellery and their ultimate desirability among shoppers.

We at BTEA recommit to adopting innovative and out-of-the-box tourism offerings to diversify tourism products in order to attract more tourists and new markets."

Impressive outcome

Nabeel Al Zain, Bahrain Gold Association Chairman, said: "We are thrilled with the festival’s impressive outcome this year.

The BD4 million spent mirrors Manama Gold’s amazing achievement, drawing many buyers and tourists and playing a vital role in gold trade recovery in one of the oldest and most genuine markets regionally and globally."

We are looking forward to enhancing our cooperation with BTEA to sustain and develop this festival for many years to come."

Sayed Fadhel Sharaf, Souq Al Manama development committee member and "Hekayat Al Manama" initiative founder, said: "The Manama Gold Festival has been a valuable addition to the Manama Souq that markedly helped this historic market to recover with diverse shopping options, primarily the well-known Bahraini gold and jewellery."

We highly appreciate the Ministry of Tourism and BTEA’s relentless efforts to level up Bahrain’s tourism, which will positively affect the Manama Souq development process."

There are 32 gold shops sponsoring the festival’s prizes this year, mainly: Malabar Jewellery, Jumbo Gold, Alseef Jewellery, Mashallah City, Altawheed Jewellery, Alhashimi Pearls, Aljasrah Jewellery, Alsharhan Pearls, Niyaz Pearls, Manama Pearl, Bin Naser Jewellery, Alnafeeseh Jewellery, Tbabat Al Bahrain Jewellery, and Bahar Jewellery.