Bahrain tops Middle East and Africa region in tourism capital investment | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Bahrain tops Middle East and Africa region in tourism capital investment | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Bahrain topped the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region in tourism capital investment in 2020, the fDi Intelligence Tourism Investment Report 2021 has said. Bahrain secured $492 million of tourism capital investment last year, largely as a result of investments from Dubai-based Emaar Properties and real estate developer Eagle Hills. Capital investment into MEA last year decreased 82 per cent from 2019, dropping to $1.6 billion. The number of tourism jobs created in the region also experienced a similar decline, falling from approximately 17,400 in 2019 to 2,800 in 2020. But 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-19, Bahrain was attracting around one million visitors a month on average and the tourism sector contributed around 7 per cent to GDP. Also, as the first country in the GCC to diversify the economy, the Kingdom has focused on highlighting its tourism sector to cater to a larger group of visitors through new tourist attractions such as hotels, restaurants and retail stores. During the pandemic, the country continued developing its strategy to transform its tourism sector, allocating more than $10bn