Culture Minister Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa on Sunday patronized the Bahrain Tourism Forum (BTF)2014.
The Ministry's Undersecretary Shaikh Khalid bin Humood Al Khalifa attended the forum on behalf of the Minister and in the presence of a large number of representatives from the hotels and tourism sector and the relevant public and private organisations in the Kingdom. In his opening speech, Shaikh Khalid stressed the importance and existence of a special tourism strategy in the Kingdom which will be announced in November, including the circulation of the monthly tourism rating report as per international tourism, hotels websites and the approval of new assessment criteria .
Tourism Advisor in the Ministry Dr. Hiba Abdulaziz said that the forum this year provides opportunity to establish comprehensive dialogue between the relevant official bodies and partners from the private sector.
The forum sheds light on the correlation between tourism and community development.
Dr. Ramesh ROTRATANA the VP of the International Union for Conservation of Nature for Southeast Asia, India and China (IUCN) in his presentation has stressed that the development of local community through tourism relies on supporting individuals, conservation of the community's cultural heritage and encouragement of tolerance and mutual cooperation.
Amitava Bhattacharya the director of Banglanatak.com in India in his presentation pointed out that development of the tourism sector to a large extent relies upon cultural diversity which is peculiar from country to another, in addition to the need to use the material and immaterial cultural heritage as tools in boosting the role of individuals in contributing to the economic development process.
The forum discussed the challenges facing the tourism sector in Bahrain according to a presentation made by the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO) stressing the importance of developing tourism statistics in the Kingdom of Bahrain through developing the Tourism Statistics System, to find methods for effective use of these statistics which assist in the developing of the tourism sector.
The forum also discussed the Kingdom of Bahrain's tourism strategic plan 2015-2018.