Tourism generated BD 1.5 billion in 2016

Manama, Mar. 26 (BNA): Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed R. Alzayani said the contribution of the tourism sector in the Kingdom's non-oil gross domestic product (GDP) reached 37% in 2016. Alzayani said the sector continues to develop in line with the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, especially as the sector is considered one of the major four economic sectors given top priority in the current phase. The minister told Al Ayam newspaper that the tourism sector of Bahrain overall generated BD 1 billion in 2015 and increased to BD 1.5 billion in 2016. He added that the average daily expenditure per individual tourist has increased from BD 72 to BD 88. In the same context, the minister said the contribution of the tourism sector in GDP in early 2015 was 4.3% and rose to 6.3% by the end of 2016 as part of our commitment to increase this percentage to 7% by the end of 2018. The minister said the total number of visitors to the Kingdom was 11.6 million visitors in 2015 and rose to 12.3 million in 2016 - 88% of them visited Bahrain from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.