Bahrain generated over $1.746 billion from tourists, said an official of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2010. Quoting Euromonitor statistics, the ATM official, said last year Bahrain’s spending on outgoing tourist expenditure reached $677 million while domestic tourism expenditure totaled only $17 million.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Culture and Information will participate in this year’s ATM that is slated to take place in Dubai from May 4-7.
In this regard, Dr Heba Aziz, executive director and adviser, Culture and Information Ministry said this year’s show is being widely anticipated within the tourism industry as ATM is essential in the kingdom’s reform measures to promote Bahrain as a leisure and business tourism destination. “Attending exhibitions gives us the opportunity to introduce Bahrain to potential visitors as an inbound GCC tourist destination in its own right. Currently we have many visitors coming to Bahrain for one day only; we want to encourage them to stay longer and to explore all that this country has to offer. Last year’s Arabian Travel Market was a huge success and I have no doubt that this year will once again prove to give an invaluable boost to our aspirations,” she added.
