Hotels continue to drive Bahrain economy growth

The hotels and restaurants sector in Bahrain lost a little of its momentum in the third quarter of 2014, although it still registered strong growth, newly-released economic data shows.

According to The Economic Development Board’s latest Bahrain Economic Quarterly report, the sector grew by 7.4% year-on-year during the quarter.

This followed growth of 9.9% and 10.3% in the first and second quarters of the year respectively.

Nevertheless, it still placed hotels and restaurants among the country’s top-performing sectors, behind only construction (12.3%) and other (12.2%).

It was also above overall GDP growth, which came in at 5.1%, after growth of 3.1% in the first quarter and 5.6% in the second quarter.

The authors of the report said the sector has “consistently been the fastest-growing sector of the economy in recent quarters” and that, although some of the momentum had been lost, it still registered “robust” growth.

The Economic Development Board, a public agency in Bahrain, highlighted the opening of Best Western Hawar Resort Hotel, with 44 rooms and suites, in the report.