Bahrain's tourism industry loses $2.65bln

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Bahrain's tourism industry suffered an estimated BD1 billion blow as a result of the outbreak of Covid-19 and the restrictions put in place to help prevent its spread.

The various sectors have suffered a daily loss of BD4 million amounting to BD108m per month over the last nine months revealed Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed Alzayani.

Figures were revealed by the minister, who added that the kingdom had lost 29,000 visitors per day, in a written statement to Parliament’s foreign affairs, defence and national security committee vice-chairman Isa Al Dossary.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in massive losses in the tourism industry across the globe to around $460bn which is five times the losses recorded during the 2009 financial crisis,” he stated.

“The number of tourists around the world has dropped by 65 per cent in the first half of 2020 because of border closures and quarantine rules in several countries.

“Bahrain has lost around BD4m on a daily basis – amounting to around BD108m per month – resulting in over BD1bn in nine months due to a loss of 29,000 visitors per day.”

Mr Alzayani revealed that Cabinet directives to exempt annual tourism levies on struggling facilities for the last three quarters of 2020 resulted in collecting only BD2.4m in fees compared with BD14.5m in 2019.

Meanwhile, he also added that annual revenues for hotels, furnished apartments and restaurants has dropped by 39.5pc – falling from BD218m in 2019 to around B132m because of precautionary measures.

“The cancellation of many tourism events has caused around BD141,572 losses to the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA),” he added.

“Bahrain has lost a total of BD10.8m due to the cancellation of 450 Indian weddings this year along with the cancellation of 55 cruise ship trips with around 100,000 visitors on board.

“The cancellation of several exhibitions and conferences that were scheduled for the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre has resulted in the loss of around BD839,000 in rent as the location was handed over to create a comprehensive centre by the national Covid-19 taskforce.”

According to Mr Alzayani, 10 hotels out of a total of 132 were closed during this period, along with 20 furnished apartments out of 91, and 19 tourism restaurants out of 127.

He also revealed that due to the pandemic, the participation of BTEA at international exhibitions had to be cancelled at 12 events, alongside losing BD839,000 in rent due to the cancellation of 14 exhibitions scheduled from March 2020 to March 2021.

These include the hugely popular Jewellery Arabia (BD343,525) and Bahrain International Garden Show (BD135,575) among others.

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