Bahrain, following the Middle East recent trend to cut visa charges for Indian tourists, has dropped down its visa rates by 80%, according to reports. As Indians have emerged as one of the biggest and highest spending people in Middle east. Dubai is currently the top city for Indians as 1.6 million Indians visited it in 2015.
To make significant growth in the tourism sector and to catch up with Dubai Bahrain has played the move and slashed its visa charges by 80%. Now Indians will have to spend Bahraini Dinar 5 (Rs. 889 )instead of earlier Bahraini Dinar 25 (Rs. 4,446). Jerad Bachar, executive director (tourism) of Bahrain Economic Development Board said, “We want more Indians to explore the country's history and its entertainment, including nightlife, and retail culture.”
He added, “There is excellent air connectivity between Bahrain and India with 75 flights a week. Bahrain is undertaking a $1 billion airport expansion program and once completed, it will be able to handle 14 million passengers from the current nine million.”
Bahrain is also planning to open its first tourism office in India to attract people to the kingdom. Although many Middle East countries are depended on oil for it s economy, Bahrain does not have many oil reservoirs and it highly depends on tourism. In 2015, tourism contributed 5.3% in Bahrain’s total earnings.
According to reports, about 3 lakh and 2.80 lakh people have visited Bahrain in 2015 and 2016 respectively making it most preferred destination for Indians after Dubai, Oman and Abu Dhabi. Although Saudi Arabia has the highest influx in Bahrain, the land of pearls has been planning to attract Indians to its land.
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By Prajakt K.
