The Bahrain Economic Development Board, EDB, has recently revealed investment in Bahrain’s tourism infrastructure reached over BHD4.9 billion (US$13 billion).

According to the Bahrain News Agency, BNA, the figure covers 14 prominent projects that will further boost growth in the Kingdom’s tourism and leisure sector.

The sector witnessed rapid growth in the past year, with the total number of tourists visiting the Kingdom increasing by 12.8% in the first nine months of 2017. The Kingdom is also witnessing further enhancement to its tourism infrastructure to support this growth, which plays a significant role in Bahrain’s economic diversification efforts.

"The total number of tourists visiting Bahrain has reached 8.7 million during the first nine months of this year, a significant number considering our resident population of only 1.5 million people." said Dr. Simon Galpin, Managing Director of Bahrain EDB.

"The tourism sector is one of the key investment sectors we recognise as having a strong competitive advantage for Bahrain. It contributes 6.3% to the country’s GDP, and is set to grow significantly, as the number of visitors and leisure activities increase. Bahrain continues to reaffirm its position as a tourism destination of choice with a number of new hotels, retail and leisure developments currently underway."

The tourism investment projects are part of Bahrain’s large-scale infrastructure development across a wide range of sectors and are valued at over $32 billion. This public-private sector investment consists of $10 billion of government funding, $7.5 billion under the GCC Development Fund, and $15 billion worth of investment in the private sector.