MANAMA: Bahrain topped the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region securing $492 million worth of tourism capital investment last year, according to a new report.
Investments from UAE-based global property developer Emaar Properties and real estate developer Eagle Hills enabled the kingdom to rank first in terms of capital investment last year, as per the fDi Intelligence’s Tourism Investment report 2021.
Bahrain was also placed first in terms of job creation in the tourism cluster in 2020, with a 40 per cent market share across the region.
The kingdom was second to the UAE among the region’s top destinations for tourism FDI by number of projects.
The Financial Times Group report found that major foreign investments helped the country’s tourism sector to remain buoyant and created jobs during the worst-ever period for the global tourism industry.
Capital investment into MEA last year decreased 82pc from 2019, dropping to $1.6 billion.
The number of tourism jobs created in the region also experienced a similar decline, decreasing from approximately 17,400 in 2019 to 2,800 in 2020.
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