Marking its return to travel trade fairs in India after the Covid-19 pandemic, Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority participated in OTM 2024 that concluded recently in Mumbai. BTEA says it is focussing on Tier I cities in India, with FITs, MICE and destination weddings as its key segments.

Along with several tourism stakeholders from Bahrain, the national tourism promotion organisation Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority marked its return to travel trade shows through an active participation in the Outbound Travel Mart (OTM) 2024 that concluded recently in Mumbai.

In a press statement, BTEA says that the event provided an exceptional platform for Bahrain to actively engage with the Indian market, with a particular focus on developing the MICE, wedding and leisure segments.

BTEA says that throughout the three-day event, its representatives engaged in fruitful interactions with the travel fraternity of India, highlighting the island destination’s appeal for holidays and events. Additionally, BTEA‘s booth received the prestigious ‘Best Design and Decoration’ award, underscoring its commitment to excellence at OTM 2024.

‘‘Participating in OTM 2024 enabled us to showcase Bahrain’s vibrant tourism offerings to the Indian market. Our interactions during the event with industry professionals and media have been essential in strengthening ties and elevating Bahrain’s position as a top choice for Indian travellers,’’ says Sally Sedky, Head of Tourism Marketing at Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA).

The statement adds that with a commitment to showcasing Bahrain’s diverse tourism offerings, BTEA presented a contingent of 11 esteemed partners. This association included Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air, Exhibition World Bahrain, the biggest convention centre in the country as well as a number of hotels and Destination Management Companies (DMCs).

Focus on FIT, MICE & weddings

Sedky says that BTEA has identified its priorities in the Indian market and is focussing on certain segments and geographies in the country.

“Tier 1 is still the main focus because we still want to get more tourists from these markets. But I mean, wherever Gulf Air is going we want to focus on that as well. I mean, just to make sure that we at least get the tourists from where we have accessibility to and then after that, we can spread to other other cities that even are in different connections,” Sedky tells India Outbound.

“The main market for us is of course, the GCC. Then there’s India, UK, Germany, and China. India is the main outbound market that we can leverage a lot from it and we can get a lot of tourists from it,” she adds.

BTEA has also been in discussions with its neighbours and exploring the possibility of all the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) joining hands to jointly promote the entire region to markets like India, instead of each destination doing it separately.

“We are looking forward to increase the number of tourists every year than the year before. In 2023, we achieved really good numbers. We have achieved the KPIs that were given to us from each of the international markets and we are looking forward to even enhance that more with 2024. We want to focus more in different segments of tourists, we want to focus more on FITs, MICE and weddings. We want people that are mostly focusing on leisure. We want enhanced packages that are combining GCC as one destination and having Bahrain combined with other destinations. This is something that we are working very closely with other tourism authorities. So we want to sell the GCC as one destination to international tourists,” says Sedky.