3 cruise ships arrived at the Khalifa Bin Salman Port (KBSP) at the end of 2022, carrying 11000+ tourists.
The BTEA (Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority) announced the arrival of the liners and also noted that “tens of cruise ships” were scheduled to arrive at the port during the ongoing cruise season.
BTEA chief executive Dr. Nasser Qaedi said they were delighted to welcome a new batch of cruise ships and greet thousands of tourists who had chosen Bahrain to be part of their regional cruise itinerary.
“The cruise industry adds significant value to the tourism sector as one of the tourism strategy’s main pillars, benefiting entertainment, shopping centres, hospitality, hotels, and many other industries.”
MSC World Europa ship arrived at KBSP carrying ~6000 tourists from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, and the UK. The latest addition to the MSC Cruises' fleet, MSC World Europa, was launched in November 2021 and is the world's first LNG-powered cruise liner.
AIDAcosma ship arrived at KBSP from Germany carrying 5000+ passengers plus 1252 crew. AIDAcosma is one of the biggest cruise ships within the AIDA Cruises fleet.
The residential ship ms The World also arrived, carrying a total of 148 VIP tourists plus 285 crew of multiple nationalities.
Following a 2-year hiatus, the current cruise season commenced in November 2022 and will run until May 2023. This marked 11 years since the industry first launched in Bahrain.
The Tourism Strategy 2022–2026, which was recently reviewed, showed a 31% increase in tourism traffic in the 3rd quarter of 2022, compared with the same period in 2021.