By Hanan Alnufaie
RIYADH — “Shop Bahrain” Festival, an annual festival organized by the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) and Tamkeen, will hold its third edition on Jan.19 - Feb.18, 2017.
The initiative is aimed to strengthen the partnership between the public and private sectors to stimulate the retail and tourism sectors in the Kingdom. It features “Bahrain Festival City,” a number of events and activities and seeks to attract shoppers from the Kingdom and neighboring countries to take advantage of offers and excellent shopping and enjoy the unique experience of family fun.
At a press conference held last Dec. 26 at Four Seasons Riyadh, Chief Executive of Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority Sheikh Khalid bin Humood AlKhalifa said “we consider Saudi families to be our first target in this festival. No one can deny how tourism sector is witnessing fundamental improvements in all GCC countries. It’s also our pleasure to say that Manama was announced to be the GCC tourism capital in 2016. This highlights that Bahrain is a great destination for all families especially the Saudis.”
He further said “this year, we are having a variety of unique and different activities than the last year. Firstly, the festival now became under the umbrella of BTEA. This added more value to the festival and helped in creating tourism and holiday packages which can reduce the amount of individual’s travel expenses to 35-40%. We also coordinated with Rotana to have the famous and well-known singers along with our national talents to perform classy parties in which all family members can charmingly enjoy.
Furthermore, Festival City, which cost $41 million, includes enormous activities for all family members, theme parks, cinemas, and theatres. Last but not least: ‘Taste Tour’ in which forty restaurants from all over the Kingdom participated.”
Speaking of the facilities given to the residents of GCC countries and whether they will be treated like the GCC citizens or not in terms of entry visas, etc, he said “residents of GCC countries are warmly welcomed and will be treated just like citizens. We made a strategic plan, including facilitating the entry, have proper residency places, and entertainment and activities. Regarding the entry facilities, we reduced the coast of visas, before it used to SR250, but now it became just SR50. We also allowed citizens and residents of 70 countries – including Saudi Arabia – to get the visa when they land in Bahrain. Here, I would like to add that Russia and China are among the countries. We are considered to be the first GCC country to attract those nations”.
