Tourism Minister Fatima bint Jaafar Al Sairafi received a US Congress staff delegation on visit to Bahrain.
Al Sairafi highlighted the longstanding ties between Bahrain and the United States and the expanding increased cooperation in the tourism sector.
She noted the importance of promoting bilateral tourism collaboration, which will consolidate economic, trade, social and cultural relations.
Al Sairafi emphasized Bahrain’s efforts to support international efforts for the development of the tourism industry globally. These efforts also serve to help the recovery of the tourism sector following the pandemic, she added.
Dr. Nasser Qaedi, CEO of the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority gave a short presentation on some of the highlights of the tourism strategy for the Kingdom of Bahrain (2022-2026).
This strategy originated as part of the economic recovery plan announced by the Government at the end of 2021.
Dr Qaedi reviewed many of the ongoing major tourism infrastructure projects especially “Exhibition World Bahrain”, one of the newest exhibition centres in the Middle East, with 10 halls and a large conference hall.
Exhibition World Bahrain is expected to incentivise greater numbers of businesses and industries holding conferences and exhibitions in the region.
Dr Qaedi said that the recovery rate of the tourism sector was at 82% compared to the pre-pandemic period.
He pointed to the quarterly economic report for the second quarter of 2022, which indicated that the hotel and restaurant sector continued to record the highest growth rates for non-oil related sectors in the Kingdom, achieving annual growth of 18.1% whilst maintaining constant prices.
The CEO of BTEA affirmed that Bahrain has intensified its efforts to access the main markets for tourists around the world and has succeeded in building important partnerships with 76 international tour operators.
Source: Bahrain News Agency