New investments in the hospitality sector and efforts to raise Bahrain’s international profile should drive tourism growth in 2016, broadening the kingdom’s appeal as a destination for travellers from the region and further afield. With Manama named the “Capital of Gulf Tourism 2016” in early January by the tourism ministers of the GCC, a...
Bahrain’s National Tourism Strategy extends from 2015 to 2018 and envisages a change of strategy for the industry. The kingdom emerged as the first shopping, leisure and service centre in the Gulf in the 1970s, and consequently began to attract high weekend traffic from across the region.
Known in ancient times as Dilmun, the inspiration for the Garden of Eden, and more recently as Ard Million Nakhla, or the Land of a Million Date Palms, Bahrain has been welcoming visitors for centuries. In 2014 tourism receipts reached $1.4bn, accounting for 4.2% of the country’s GDP, and they are forecast to grow by 4.9% annually between 2015 and 2025. Under the Bahrain Tourism Strategy 2015-...
Low oil prices will undoubtedly continue to be a significant challenge for Bahrain in 2016. However the kingdom’s early moves to diversify its economy mean the country is well placed to weather the storm and non-oil segments are expected to continue performing well in 2016.
Where does investment need to be focused to ensure the sustainable development of Myanmar’s tourism industry in the coming years?
Deep in the south of Myanmar, the Mergui Archipelago is almost off the map. Mostly uninhabited, the islands are home to around 2000 people, mostly Moken, known as “sea gypsies”, many of whom are skilled divers and fishermen living a semi-nomadic lifestyle. Some of the roughly 800 limestone and granite islands are just rocks jutting out of the...
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