Bahrain welcomes 5.9 million visitors in first half of 2023

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The number of visitors to Bahrain increased by 51% over the first half of this year, from 3.9 million to 5.9 million, according to the latest statistics.

This comes as Tourism Minister Fatima bint Jaffar Al Sairafi chaired the board meeting of the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority in the presence of BTEA Chief Executive Officer Dr. Nasser Al Qaidi.

Al Sairafi stressed progress in achieving the goals set in the 2022–2026 Tourism Strategy.

She expressed confidence in achieving further strides and boosting tourism investments, whose windfall will support the hospitality sector's contribution to national economic growth.

During the meeting, the panel reviewed the latest main tourism indicators for the period January–June 2023, which showed remarkable improvement on a quarterly and annual basis as the number of tourists soared in terms of nationalities, types of trips, and means of transportation.

The total number of nights increased by 54% to reach 8.9 million in the first half of 2023, compared to 5.8 million for the same period in 2022.

The total inbound tourism revenues increased during the first half of the year 2023 by 48% to reach BD924 million, up from BD623 million for the same period last year.

The number of one-day visitors soared by 43%, from 2.3 million visitors in January–June 2022 to 3.3 million visitors during the current year 2023.

While the number of overnight visitors increased by 63%, from approximately 1.6 million visitors in the first six months of the year 2022 to about 2.6 million visitors during the same period of the year 2023.