UAE property giants behind $492mln Bahrain tourism investment influx

UAE property giants behind $492mln Bahrain tourism investment influx

Bahrain ranked first in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) for attracting the highest tourism capital investment in 2020, according to the fDi Intelligence Tourism Investment Report 2021. Last year, major investments from UAE-based property developers helped Bahrain’s tourism sector remain buoyant and created jobs during the worst ever period for the global tourism industry. Bahrain secured $492 million of tourism capital investment in 2020, mainly made up of investments from global property developer Emaar Properties and real estate developer Eagle Hills, despite the overall regional decline in capital investment in 2020. Capital investment into MEA last year decreased 82% from 2019, dropping to $1.6 billion. The number of tourism jobs created in the region also experienced a similar decline, decreasing from approximately 17,400 in 2019 to 2,800 in 2020. Despite the pandemic, Bahrain ranked first in MENA for the number of tourism jobs created in 2020 and second for the number of tourism FDI projects. Prior to Covid, Bahrain was attracting around a million visitors a month on average and the tourism sector contributed around 7% to GDP. As the first economy in the GCC to diversify away from oil, the Kingdom has positioned its tourism offering to cater