BTEA gears up for the 2023 wedding season; Announces 14 weddings in first quarter!

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Weddings | February 10, 2023 | News

Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA)

Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) recently announced that as part of its drive to diversify its tourism offer, a record 14 destination weddings will be held in Bahrain in the first quarter of 2023.

BTEA also added that these weddings will involve families from diverse countries around the globe including India, Pakistan, China, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the UAE, Saudi Arabia Kuwait, Jordan and Lebanon.

With an aim to promote the destination as ideal for destination weddings from across the world, the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority has lined up a record number of destination weddings from all over the world to be held in the first quarter of the current year.

The kingdom of Bahrain hosted more than 54 weddings between 2017 and 2022 attracting around 20,000 guests from all around the world with an average of 370 people attending each wedding. There were two weddings in 2017, ten in 2018, thirteen in 2019, two in 2020, six in 2021 and twenty-one weddings just last year.

These weddings contributed millions of dinars directly to the national economy despite Covid-19 putting the brakes on 10 planned nuptials during the pandemic period.

Nasser Qaedi, Chief Executive, BTEA said, “The BTEA has recently doubled its efforts to attract more weddings from various continents, contributing to the recovery of ‘wedding tourism’ in 2023 and building on the pre-pandemic achievements. Our strategy consists of attracting exotic weddings and hosting international wedding organisers, expanding the network of wedding specialists, discussing the expansion plans in targeted markets and coordinating with others in various countries”

The BTEA CEO also highlighted Bahrain’s role in providing surreal landscapes and exceptional venues with an international highly ranked tourism institution, islands, beaches, the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), and heritage-based locations to host such exotic weddings.

This makes Bahrain a favourable place for organising such weddings with well-known hotel chains assisting planners and offering wedding parties or pre-wedding events, in addition to the availability of Bahraini wedding specialists, he further added.

Further, BTEA adviser Dr Ali Follad pointed out that in a very short period of time the authority managed to turn the idea of promoting Bahrain as a leading tourist destination for weddings and social occasions into a tremendous trademark in this regard on the regional map by targeting international and GCC markets.

“These efforts are part of BTEA’s endeavors to provide the necessary support to easily organise weddings in the kingdom,” he added. “The authority is playing a pivotal role in planning and collaborating with interested parties, working collectively to organise the logistics services, select locations, and connecting suppliers and specialists.”

According to the BTEA, Indian weddings are the most common in Bahrain, followed by weddings from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UK, the UAE, and the US. Bahrain’s tourism sector attracted $291 million (BD110m) in direct investments during the first three quarters of 2022, according to Bahrain’s Economic Development Board.

In 2019, Bahrain received the “Most Promising New Destination for Indian Weddings” in WOW Awards and Convention Asia 2019.

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