A shopping and entertainment festival is being lined up to help boost businesses hit by unrest in the Manama suq.

It aims to revitalise trade by attracting thousands of people to the area, said Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) retail and traditional markets committee head Jawad Al Hawaj.

'We plan to transform the entire area into a festival city and provide world-class events and entertainment for citizens, residents and tourists,' he told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News (GDN).

Al Hawaj said the Industry and Commerce Ministry and the Municipal and Urban Planning Affairs Ministry had already been approached with the idea and had been positive about it.

He said all the suq's traders would be invited to take part in the festival, tentatively planned for July or August.

'Bahrain has suffered during the last more than two months of turmoil and we have a responsibility together to kick start businesses,' said Al Hawaj.

'A lot of positivity has been seen over the last few weeks but we have to make sure it is maintained.

'The causeway has opened and we have seen thousands of people from Saudi Arabia come into the country already, especially over the weekends.'

However, Al Hawaj said, a lot more needed to be done to help businesses.

'There will be huge discounts offered, incentives for visitors and special facilities for tourists, all aimed at increasing footfall and generating huge revenues,' he said.

'World class entertainers are proposed to be invited to perform during the festival and several other programmes will be lined up.'

Al Hawaj said businessmen had originally planned to hold the festival to co-incide with the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, which was postponed in March.

'But due to the situation, several plans, including this, were shelved,' he said.

'The plan will shortly be presented to the BCCI board for discussion and approval, after which it will be forwarded to the government.'

Al Hawaj earlier said Bahrain's retail industry had been severely hit by the unrest since mid February and traders had lost nearly 80 per cent of their regular business.-TradeArabia News Service