Bahrain International Travel Expo (BITE 2008), the first business-to-consumer travel and tourism event in the region, will kick off tomorrow (May 14) at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre).

The three-day event will be inaugurated by Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Chairman of the Bahrain Economic Development Board.

BITE, currently in its fourth consecutive year, is the brainchild of Magnum Events and Exhibitions Management (MEEM).

The event aims to showcase current travel trends, projects, and new emerging destinations around the world and is expecting about 20,000 visitors for this year’s event.
This year’s exhibition is scheduled from Thursday to Saturday to provide the convenience of the weekend, thus making it more consumer-friendly, said a Meem official.

The exhibition will run alongside a “Hosted Buyers Program”, which facilitates structured networking sessions between the local tourism market and a group of around 100 hosted buyers.

The UAE (Abu Dhabi), Czech Republic, Denmark, Ethiopia, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Morocco, Oman, Spain, Tunisia and Sweden will be the debutants at this year's show.

Veterans Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belgium, Brunei, China, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Kuwait, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, The Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States will baeback this ayear aw well, said the official.

Bahrain Training Institute (BTI)—which recently received a licence from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), allowing it to operate as an authorised training centre will debut at the show.

Bahrain Labour Fund will host a seminar geared towards employment in the travel & tourism sector—specifically targeting employers, HR managers, and other key corporate personnel during the event.

A total of 120 exhibitors, 110 hosted buyers and international media from 44 countries will be participating at the event.

The exhibition encompasses a wide variety of sectors ranging from airlines to car rental companies, conventions & exhibitions organisers, cruise lines, health resorts & spas, hotel accommodation providers, tourist attractions, tourism boards, tourism TV channels, tour operators, travel insurance as well as travel and tourism publications.

The platinum sponsors are the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) along with the Ministry of Information – Tourism Affairs. Gulf Air has once again come onboard as the official carrier and Qatar Airways are the Gold Sponsor.

The expo is actively supported by the Bahrain Five Star Hotels Owners Executive Committee, Bahrain Exhibition and Convention Authority & the Central Governorate.

Elite Hospitality will be the official hotel, Atlas Travel & Culture Channel (ATC) is the Official TV Channel; Al Hilal Group and Akhbar AlKhaleej are the media Partners; Zain the communications partner and the transportations partner are Bahrain Limo.-TradeArabia News Service