The reopening of Bahrain's Hawar Islands to tourists has been put off until after the Eid holiday.

A completely refurbished Tulip Inn Hawar Beach Resort was earlier slated to start receiving guests from September 15 before a formal opening during the Eid holiday.

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

However, a contract to manage the hotel was signed in October last year between the Golden Tulip Hotels Group and the owners, Southern Area Development Company (Sadco).

Tulip Inn operations manager Mustapha Chatila said work was still being carried out at the project, but it would not open during Eid.

'We still cannot say how long it will take, but hope to open shortly after the Eid holidays,' he told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News.

'There are some issues that we are working on in consultation with the contractors. These will be finalised soon.'

Chatila said the resort would also target business houses and companies in addition to tourists.

He said world-class facilities to cater to meetings and conferences will be created at the resort.

In May, the developers had announced they were investing BD1 million in major renovation at the facility.

A contract for the complete refurbishment of facilities was signed by Sadco and World Decor, which is carrying out the work.

The renovation contract, worth BD1,090,800, was signed by Al Musallam; World Decor managing director Abdulla Al Khan and Talk Design Consultancy managing director Abdul Aziz Al Abbassi.

Al Khan said the renovation would cover all guest rooms, the hotel's main lobby, meeting rooms, health club, new Lebanese and seafood restaurants and other facilities such as pools, outdoor jacuzzi, beach, staff accommodation and all 16 two-bedroom apartments.

The resort, 20km to the southeast of the mainland, can be reached in 45 minutes by speedboat.-TradeArabia News Service