In April 2017, the wedding juggernaut that was the ‘Mehta-Jatiya’ wedding caught the eye of prominent business families and wedding planners across the world. The three-day extravaganza took place at the sprawling Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, with the sangeet event being hosted at the luxurious Ritz Carlton, Bahrain, on its private island with more than 1300 guests from different Indian cities and other countries.
“This mega wedding helped convince decision-makers and wedding planners to hold their weddings in Bahrain and propelled local wedding stakeholders to adapt to the requirements of the destination wedding market”, says Dr Ali Follad, Consultant/Advisor, CEO’s Office, Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA). Dr Follad is one of the key people widely credited for the stratospheric rise of Bahrain as a prime destination wedding location.
As we explored Bahrain and the phenom of the growing destination wedding market in Bahrain, Dr Ali Follad gave Life N Style an in-depth look into the strategy and future plans of BTEA in expanding this sector in the Kingdom.
With an eye on the booming destination wedding industry, the savvy team at BTEA launched a new project called ‘Bahrain Island Weddings’. This was done with an eye on the growing craze of island weddings and to capitalise on Bahrain’s surreal landscapes and glitzy venues. The idea was to promote Bahrain as the perfect destination for weddings and similar social events in the targeted markets.
“In 2017, after the Mehta-Jatiya wedding, which I spoke of earlier, we got a huge boost-there has been no looking back since then.
This, of course, is possible only because of the dedicated efforts of BTEA which contributed to the process of planning weddings, organising logistics, venues, suppliers, and wedding industry professionals to activate the project’s vision.
According to reports, the Kingdom hosted more than 54 weddings between 2017 and 2022 and 14 weddings were planned in the first quarter itself. How has the nurturing of the destination wedding industry benefitted the Kingdom?
Dr Ali Follad, Consultant/Advisor, CEO’s Office, BTEA: The rise in the number of weddings hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain has created business opportunities in the tourism and wedding sectors due to the increased requirements for weddings especially as these weddings take place over several days and have multiple events with different requirements. Then there are several visits from family members to Bahrain before the wedding ceremony to complete the planning process. It is here that transportation companies, restaurants, DMCs, airlines, local markets, wedding-related vendors, hotels, resorts, and Bahrain Duty Free, all benefit.
Can you give us an idea of which countries/nationalities favour Bahrain as their wedding destination of choice?
BTEA hosted more than 54 weddings between 2017 and 2022, with more than 20,000 international guests and an average of 370 attendees per wedding, these guests came from various destinations like India, Pakistan, China, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, and others.
The Kingdom has witnessed two destination weddings in 2017, ten in 2018, thirteen in 2019, two in 2020, six in 2021, and twenty-one weddings in 2022. Most of these hosted weddings were Indian weddings, and their guests came from India and other countries.
There are many reasons why couples choose Bahrain for their wedding, this includes its friendly and welcoming atmosphere, rich history and culture, variety of luxurious wedding venues, and prime and convenient location.
The BTEA and the Ministry of Tourism have put in a lot of effort to attract destination weddings to Bahrain, and they work hand-in-hand with the clients to ensure that everything works seamlessly. Can you tell us about some of the assistance that you and your team offer to the clients?
BTEA offers a one-stop-shop solution through its portal, ‘www.bahrainislandwedding.com’ as well as its social media account ‘@bahrainwedding’. These contain all the direct and indirect wedding industry stakeholders in Bahrain apart from showcasing actual wedding videos held on the island that were managed by the BTEA. This website is an opportunity for every wedding planner, or couple interested in celebrating their special day in Bahrain, to explore the diverse service categories and choose the right partner who can help make their event a grand success.
Bahrain has multiple locations to host big weddings and is adding more to that list – can you elaborate on some of the newer venues?
Bahrain boasts of the most attractive luxury hotels, resorts, and non-hotel wedding venues such as the islands, desert, heritage buildings, beaches, the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), the world-class exhibition and conferences centre ‘Exhibition World Bahrain’ and The Lost Paradise of Dilmun Water Park. These modern and diverse facilities make weddings and other functions easy to organise and execute, making it a sheer pleasure for the people involved.
In your experience what has been the most unusual or unique wedding location that has been chosen by the guest?
In many cases, the wedding guests travel to the Kingdom of Bahrain by charter flights rented by the host.
Since destination weddings usually last for three nights or more, the functions are interspersed with many ceremonies and events held in different locations such as hotels’ islands and ballrooms, Bahrain International Karting Circuit (BIKC), and the Lost Paradise of Dilmun Water Park.
In a recent example, a family rented an entire island in a five-star hotel and built a temple in a matter of days to host their wedding ceremony.
As Bahrain continues its journey to becoming one of the most preferred destination wedding locale – what are your plans to ensure exponential growth in this sector? And what developments are being planned for this purpose?
The Kingdom of Bahrain has successfully hosted many large-scale weddings since the launch of the ‘Bahrain Island Wedding’ project.
In light of this success and due to the weddings’ growth potential and advantages for the tourism industry and the overall national economy, Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) is eager to promote and expand the kingdom’s target new destinations like Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States of America, with a particular focus of course on the Arab Gulf countries.
However, we will continue to focus on the Asian market, as it has the largest share of the global wedding industry. This will help generate profitable revenue for the kingdom’s tourism sector and national economy.
In addition to expanding the Kingdom’s targeted destinations, the BTEA is also introducing a range of new services and concepts to allow guests to enjoy the kingdom’s many tourist attractions and collaborating with new entities to ease and facilitate the wedding procedures.
Moreover, we have organised several familiarisation trips for leading wedding planners from our targeted markets and intend to host top wedding planners and decision-makers from newly targeted markets, to introduce and promote Bahrain as a luxurious wedding destination.
BTEA has participated in many wedding-related exhibitions and conferences and plans to participate in more.
We are committed to making Bahrain a premier destination for weddings with its beautiful beaches, luxurious hotels, vibrant culture, and diverse facilities.
