Tourism

By some measures the tourism and hospitality sector in Dubai is already in a league of its own internationally. In terms of overnight visitor arrivals’ spend per resident, for example, Dubai stands head and shoulders above every other major destination city in the world. In its relatively short history, Dubai’s hospitality sector has learned how to constantly reinvent...

With tourist numbers growing year-on-year and the prospect of a huge event just five years away, optimism is prevalent in Dubai’s hospitality sector. At the same time, as new hotels, apartments and holiday villas are built, there are fears in some quarters that the emirate may create a glut in supply.

While the regulation of tourism at the local level rests with the Department of Tourism and Commerce Management (DTCM), new federal regulations from the UAE’s Department of Naturalisation, Residency and Ports Affairs in August 2014, could have an impact on visitor numbers to Dubai.

The islands of Bahrain have been drawing visitors to their shores for centuries. Known as Dilmun in The Epic of Gilgamesh and Tylos by the ancient Greeks, Bahrain today is one of the Gulf’s leading...

The tourism sector provides employment for Bahraini nationals across the kingdom in a number of roles, from management at hotels to taxi providers. As such the industry is seen as increasingly important in the government’s plan to expand the input and role of the national population in the local economy.

For the last 10 years the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix has concluded with the winner being doused in waard, a local carbonated rosewater drink. In 2014 the tradition continued with the UK’s Lewis Hamilton being congratulated in this manner after winning the first-ever night...