His Excellency Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy, met with Her Excellency Fatima bint Jaafar Al Serafi, Bahraini Minister of Tourism, to discuss enhancing cooperation in joint tourism fields and activities during the next phase, and mechanisms to support sustainable tourism development. This came on the sidelines of Bin Touq’s visit to the 30th edition of Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2023, which is being held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 1 to 4 May.
Bin Touq stressed that the UAE and the Kingdom of Bahrain share deep brotherly relations and close historical ties, and the country, thanks to the directives of its wise leadership, is keen to enhance cooperation in various fields of tourism with brotherly countries and open new horizons for constructive cooperation, especially since Arab tourism is characterized by unique elements that vary between heritage, natural and archaeological components, and promising investment opportunities.
Read: ATM 2023: Paving the way for sustainable tourism practices
His Excellency briefed the Bahraini side on the indicators and results achieved by UAE tourism, which confirm the continued growth of the tourism sector in the country, most notably, hotel establishments received 25 million guests in 2022, an increase of 30 percent over 2021, an increase in the number of tourist nights to 91 million nights during 2022, a growth rate of 18 percent over 2021, and an increase in the revenues of hotel establishments to reach AED 38 billion during 2022, achieving a growth of 35 percent. Compared to 2021, the hotel occupancy rate reached 71% of the 1,198 hotel establishments, with the number of hotel rooms exceeding 200,000 rooms.
Bin Touq discussed with the Bahraini Minister of Tourism support for bilateral cooperation in developing tourism products, exchanging statistics and data, and diversifying tourism and promotional programs, in order to enhance the exchange of tourism delegations between the two countries and to support the growth and sustainability of the tourism sector in the two brotherly countries.
The two sides agreed to coordinate joint work during the coming period regarding the selection of the Gulf Tourism Capital, especially that the Kingdom of Bahrain recently submitted a request to become the Gulf Tourism Capital for 2024 along with the UAE city of Al Ain, and the two sides were keen to exchange benefits and experiences on yacht and marine tourism.
The number of Bahraini visitors to the UAE reached about 100,000 visitors during 2022, a growth rate of 33 percent compared to 75,000 visitors in 2021, and the number of flights between the UAE and Bahrain reached 60 flights per week through the national airlines of the two countries.
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