Bahrain eyes MiCE & weddings
Offering a bit of everything to the Indian traveller, Bahrain is actively promoting MiCE and weddings in the country. In conversation with TRAVTALK, Yousef Mohammed AlKhan, Director of Marketing and Tourism Promotion, Bahrain Tourism & Exhibition Authorit
QHow important is the Indian market for Bahrain? What are your plans to enhance your presence in India? With numerous weddings, corporate and MiCE groups to Bahrain in 2018, the year has been great in terms of growth of tourism in Bahrain. Bahrain appeals to wide range of Indian audience due to its hospitality, family-friendly culture and short travel time. In terms of plans, we are proactively promoting Bahrain with travel agents and tour operators to have a new destination in the bucket list of every traveller. to promote the destination and is investing heavily in the wedding and MiCE sectors. BTEA’s focus lies on attracting more tourists from markets like India, UK, Germany, France and Russia.
QWhat sets Bahrain apart from other Middle Eastern countries?
Bahrain has a bit of everything to offer to the Indian traveller. Its rich culture, history, adventure sports and activities, amazing gastronomy and various entertainment options make Bahrain a new destination to look for in the GCC. BTEA along with its closely working with wedding planners/MiCE agents and tour operators to showcase the uniqueness of the destination. With an aim to increase arrivals by 2020, Bahrain is emerging as the new MiCE and wedding destination from India.
QWhat are your promotional plans to market the country?
We have been proactively promoting weddings and MiCE by taking part in various trade fairs and wedding exhibitions. Last year, we conducted roadshows in Bengaluru and Chennai. In order to tap the potential market, we are also involved in joint promotions with travel agents.
QWhat is the prospect of promoting Bahrain as an ideal destination for wedding and MiCE? In last few years, Bahrain has emerged as a prime wedding destination due to various at star international hotel chains. Amazing banquets and various venues for every event make it an appropriate destination to conduct Indian weddings.
With regards to MiCE, Bahrain offers islands, beaches and desert areas as top locations in order to tap the growing MiCE segment as well as the events market. The kingdom is infrastructure ready with convention centres, amazing accommodation facilities and scenic locations that are capable to host small, intimate to very large MiCE events. Bahrain is building a new state-of-the-art exhibition and convention centre that will have 10 exhibiting halls with a total sqm of 95,000 and a conference hall that can house 4,000 people.