The Middle East

Benefitting from a diverse portfolio of tourist draws including UNESCO World Heritage sites, the popular and growing annual Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix event, and a variety of high-end retail developments and hotels, Bahrain’s tourism sector has been a notable economic success story in recent years. Visitor numbers, revenues and...

Tourism’s GDP contribution is set to soar in the next few years, buoyed by billions of dollars of investment in new infrastructure. Big-ticket projects, including mixed-use real estate developments and a $1.1bn overhaul of the Bahrain International Airport (BIA), have driven investment levels to new highs in recent years. A new passenger...

Bahrain is a major player in global aluminium production, and the sector in turn dominates industrial activity and is one of the largest sources of export revenue. The industry’s economic contribution is set to rise further, with a major expansion project at the kingdom’s state-owned aluminium manufacturer due to come on-stream soon, raising...

E-commerce is now well established in developed markets, where the majority of adults make at least occasional purchases online. However, levels of activity on the whole remain relatively low in emerging countries, as these markets are restrained by a wide range of challenges, among them less-developed financial and logistical infrastructure...

In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of humanity was living in urban areas. Perhaps the most remarkable observation about this trend is the speed at which it has happened: as recently as 1900 urban areas accounted for 13% of the global population. Towns and cities are seen as the crucibles of opportunity for many rural...

Recent years have seen increasing signs of the emergence of what has been dubbed a Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), also known as Industry 4.0. This revolution relies on machine-to-machine communication, also sometimes known as the internet of things (IoT), 3D printing and artificial intelligence.