More than half a million visits were recorded at the Pearling Path in December during the Muharraq Nights festival, more than double that of last year, according to statistics released by the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (Baca).
The numbers, available through the Bahrain Open Data Portal, reveal that 594,752 visits were recorded at the Pearling Path Visitor Centre in December 2025, up from 263,066 in the same month the previous year.
According to the data publisher, the indicator represents the total number of visitors to cultural, archaeological and heritage sites, whether they are from within Bahrain or abroad, and reflects the level of interest and demand for these sites and their cultural heritage.
Visitors flock to the Muharraq Nights festival in December 2025
Almost half – 48.8 per cent – of the annual visits to all the cultural sites in Bahrain were recorded in just December, with 999,394 visitors recorded in 2025, compared with 1,106,300 in December 2024.
In total, Bahrain’s cultural sites welcomed 2.05 million visits in 2025, showing a 9.5pc decline since 2024, when 2.26m visits were recorded.
The Pearling Path
The Pearling Path emerged as the most popular site in 2025 with 630,839 visits, up from 270,343 the previous year.
Of these visits, 361,703 were residents and citizens from across Bahrain, while the remaining 269,136 included foreigners, GCC nationals, tour groups, schools and other organisations.
The Bahrain Fort Site was the second-most popular site with 591,676 visits, down from 736,896 the previous year.
The Tree of Life Visitors Centre, which had been the second-most popular site in 2024 with 394,154 visits, recorded 138,614 in 2025 – a decrease of nearly 65pc.
The Tree of Life remains one of the most visited cultural sites in Bahrain but numbers are sharply down year-on-year
The root cause of the downturn remains a mystery.
Nearly 74pc of all visits recorded annually by Baca were logged at the top three sites – Pearling Path, Bahrain Fort Site and Tree of Life Visitors Centre.
The Bahrain Fort Site
The Bu Maher Fort recorded 88,815 visits, while the Fakhro House and Al Jalahma House recorded 73,677 and 69,987 respectively.
Cultural venues such as the Cultural Hall performed steadily, increasing from 45,906 visitors in 2024 to 52,055 in 2025, while the Bahrain National Theatre and Bait Al Naqda recorded broadly unchanged totals year-on-year, each remaining at around 12,500 visitors annually.
As a whole, the 2025 figures show a cultural sector that remained heavily reliant on a small number of flagship attractions, with strong growth at the Pearling Path offset by declines at Bahrain Fort, Tree of Life and Bu Maher.
The patterns observed in the published data support the findings of a recent study on Bahrain’s historic and archaeological sites, which highlighted a persistent imbalance in how visitors engage with the kingdom’s cultural landscape, with a small number of high-profile locations attracting the majority of footfall while many historically significant sites remain largely overlooked.
According to the ‘From Heritage to Experience: Architectural Mediation and Meaning-Making in Bahrain’s Historic Sites’ study, visitor numbers are not distributed in line with archaeological or cultural importance. Instead, attendance is heavily shaped by factors such as accessibility, visibility, availability of visitor facilities, and whether a site is actively incorporated into organised tours or educational programmes.
As a result, well-developed sites with signage, interpretation and supporting infrastructure consistently outperform lesser-known locations, even when the latter hold comparable historical value.
The report, authored by Ahlia University researcher May Al Saffar and United Arab Emirates University architectural engineering academic Kheira Anissa Tabet Aoul, places emphasis on the role of organised and institutional visits, including schools, tour agencies and official delegations.
These forms of visitation account for a substantial share of footfall at several sites and are shown to be a key driver of sustained visitor numbers.
Sites that lack basic amenities, structured narratives, or the capacity to accommodate groups are far less likely to benefit from this type of traffic, reinforcing existing disparities.
Educational engagement emerged as a central weakness, according to the study.
While it notes the potential of Bahrain’s historic sites as learning environments, it found that many are underutilised by schools and universities due to limited interpretive material, insufficient safety or accessibility measures and weak alignment with formal curricula.
The study also raises concerns about the long-term implications of visitor concentration.
The authors noted that high footfall at a small number of flagship sites increases pressure on infrastructure and conservation efforts, while low-visitation sites risk neglect, reduced public awareness and diminished justification for ongoing investment.
To address these challenges, the study recommends a more integrated approach to heritage management. Proposed measures include improving interpretation at under-visited sites, rotating organised group visits and developing thematic or geographic heritage routes that encourage visitors to engage with multiple locations rather than isolated landmarks.
naman@gdnmedia.bh
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