Weddings boost for tourism: Bahrain

Weddings boost for tourism: Bahrain

Fourteen weddings will be held in Bahrain in the first quarter of this year, the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) announced yesterday.

These marriages will involve families from countries such as India, Pakistan, China, Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon and others, it added.

The kingdom hosted more than 54 weddings between 2017 and 2022, attracting around 20,000 guests from around the world with an average of 370 people attending each wedding.

There were two weddings in 2017; 10 in 2018; 13 in 2019; two in 2020, six in 2021 and 21 last year.

These weddings contributed millions of dinars directly to the national economy, despite Covid-19 putting the brakes on 10 planned nuptials during the pandemic period.

“The BTEA has recently doubled its efforts to attract more weddings from various continents, contributing to the recovery of ‘wedding tourism’ in 2023 and building on the pre-pandemic achievements,” said the authority’s chief executive Dr Nasser Qaedi.

“Our strategy consists of attracting exotic weddings and hosting international wedding organisers, expanding the network of wedding specialists, discussing the expansion plans in targeted markets and co-ordinating with others in various countries,” he added in a statement yesterday.

“The BTEA is promoting Bahrain as