Bahrain's tourism sector has seen a massive spike in 2018 as 3.1 million tourists visited the Gulf country during the first few months of the year, according to Al Arabiya.
During the 2018 Arabian Travel exhibition in Dubai, Sheikh Khaled bin Hamoud Al Khalifa explained to Al Arabiya that the number of tourists has increased 11.4 percent, compared to the same period in 2017.
Bahrain hopes its tourism and hospitality sector will add "double digits" to the country's GDP in coming years, according to Arabian Business.
"We foresee the contribution to go up for many reasons. Part of that is that we are actively working towards it. We want the contribution of tourism to increase along with other sectors in Bahrain," said Ali Ghunam Murtaza, director of real estate, tourism and leisure business development at the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB).
In 2017, the stated sector contributed 6.3 percent to Bahrain's GDP.
Bahrain's tourism sector "to hit $1 billion by 2020"
In 2017, it was announced that Bahrain's tourism industry is expected to hit $1 billion by 2020, figures by Arabian Travel Market (ATM) revealed.
Khalifa told Al Arabiya that several projects are underway to support the tourism sector including the construction of 15 hotels as well as the expansion of the Bahrain International Airport.
The country's national carrier - Gulf Air - is also looking to increase the number of aircraft and flight routes.
Earlier this month, the Gulf carrier announced its plans to add 8 new destinations to its existing network. The carrier plans to fly over 60 destinations by 2023.
In 2017, Vouchercloud mapped out the world's top visited tourist attractions ... and Bahrain's Al Fateh Mosque was among the list.
The Al-Fateh Mosque is one of the largest mosques in the world, encompassing 6,500 square meters.
The mosque was built in 1987 and was named after Ahmed Al Fateh, the founder of Bahrain.
