Bahrain’s Hawar Resort Hotel has been closed down temporarily and will re-open under a new management soon, it emerged on Monday.

The hotel, which was being managed by the Baisan Hotel Group for the last 10 years, has now been leased to the Golden Tulip Hotels Group, which will operate it for the next 10 years, according to sources.

They said a re-opening was slated during the upcoming Eid holiday, but that it would take ’at least 12 to 15 weeks’ before extensive renovation was completed.

Two well-known hotel groups from Bahrain and a group from Qatar were in contention to get management of the hotel after the Baisan Group’s contract ended, added the sources.

A final decision to award the management to the Golden Tulip Group had already been taken, but details of the contract were being worked out, they added.

’A final announcement on the management change is expected to be made in the next one week,’ said Hawar resort general manager Sujay Uchil.

’Our contract with the Southern Area Development Company (Sadco), which owns the property, has ended and we have mutually agreed not to renew it.

’We left the property on July 31.’

Uchil would not comment on why they have chosen to give up management of one of Bahrain’s premier tourist destinations, but said they were looking at ’other options’.

Sadco office manager Abdul Hadi said the resort had ceased to be with the Baisan Group.

’We are negotiating with others to manage the property after the Baisan contract ended,’ he said. ’We are finalising a contract now.’

According to sources, it has become ’uneconomical’ to run the hotel on the largest island on Hawar.

’The property was built in 1995 and was handed over to the Baisan Hotel Group in 1998 after it became operational,’ said the sources.

’It was being run very successfully but had experienced some decrease in occupancy in the last few years.

’Over the last year or so, due to changing sea conditions, it had become quite impossible to run regular boat services to the islands.’

The sources said more than 320,000 trips had been made in the last 10 years from the mainland to the islands but, of late, the number of trips had come down.

’The sea is rough and the weather is not conducive. At many times, boat services are suspended,’ they said.

’This results in serious issues with managing the resort. Coupled with this are the diminishing numbers of visitors and it all adds up.’

The resort, located 20km to the southeast of the mainland and a 45-minute speedboat ride away, had 40 rooms and four suites with private balconys, furnished apartments, conferencing and banqueting facilities, various water sports and other recreational facilities.