Bahrain’s Tourism Makeover: Diversifying Beyond Saudi Visitors and Short-Stay Weekends

Bahrain is stepping up efforts to broaden its tourism base beyond its long-standing reliance on Saudi weekend visitors. 

Travelers from Saudi made up roughly 86% of arrivals in 2024 — about 12.8 million out of 14.9 million international tourists that year, according to the latest data available from Bahrain’s Information & eGovernment Authority.

The King Fahd Causeway allows millions of Saudi visitors to make the 45-minute drive to Bahrain’s capital Manama for weekend getaways. 

To diversify, Bahrain’s tourism strategy identifies five key source markets: The GCC, the UK, China, India, and Germany, according to the Bahrain government’s website. And it targets seven segments: marine attractions, business tourism, sports, recreational tourism, medical tourism, cultural tourism, and media/cinematography tourism.

The government claims to have invested more than $10 billion in direct tourism infrastr