Bahrain :The Bahrain Economic Development Board has secured 110 million Bahraini dinars ($291 million) in direct investment in the tourism sector during the first nine months of 2022, according to a statement.

The tourism investments come as a total of eight firms are either expanding to the Gulf country or entering it for the first time.

Over the next three years, the new firms are expected to generate as many as 1090 jobs in the country.

In total, Bahrain EDB attracted 348 million Bahraini dinars in direct investments from 65 entities during the first three quarters of 2022.

Over the course of the coming three years, the investments are anticipated to bring about up to 4,700 jobs across diverse crucial sectors including financial services, Information and communications technology, logistics, manufacturing, tourism, and others.“We are pleased to witness this momentum in the tourism sector post COVID-19. All the indicators show that we are in the right direction to recover, and with our four-year tourism strategy under the Economic Recovery Plan, we are hoping to attract even more investments and welcome 14 million tourists by 2026,” the statement said, citing Munther Al-Mudawi, executive director – Business Development for Tourism at Bahrain EDB.

As part of its Economic Recovery Plan, Bahrain has unveiled plans to lure 14.1 million tourists by 2026 through a four-year strategy.

The strategy is based on four chief aims: boosting the tourism sector’s contribution to the country’s gross domestic product to reach 11.4 percent by 2026, cementing Bahrain’s position as a global tourist hub, diversifing tourism products, and raising the number of targeted countries to attract more tourists.