Bahrain hotel industry officials have said that occupancy rates had been steadily increasing over the last few days.

However, representatives of hotels in Manama and the Diplomatic Area said they hoped curfew restrictions would be reduced to attract more visitors.

They were speaking following a series of visits by Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Hassan Fakhro to various hotels yesterday.

Among the hotels were Elite Grand, Seef; Golden Tulip, Diplomatic Area; Al Safir Hotel, Juffair; Novotel Al Dana Resort, Mšvenpick Hotel and Elite Resort and Spa, Muharraq.

Dr Fakhro said that the hotel industry was hit hard, but that he was confident it would recover gradually.

'Occupancy rates have already grown to between 20 per cent and 24 per cent and are increasing,' the minister told the Press during a visit to Elite Grand.

'The situation was bad a few weeks ago, but since things are looking up, we hope it will normalise in the next few weeks.'

Dr Fakhro said the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) fees on expats being waived had been welcomed by everyone.

'We are aware of a demand to waive several other levies and these are being looked into,' he said.

'We will do all we can to help the sector's quick revival.'

Meanwhile, the minister said he had been visiting the markets and found Bahrain's food prices, though not the lowest, were very competitive.

'We are co-ordinating with traders and importers on ways to bring these down even more,' he said.

Our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News (GDN) reported last week that the hospitality industry had lost more than $500,000 in the space of a month as a result of Bahrain's political turmoil.

Hoteliers said at the height of the crisis that occupancy rates had dropped to less than five per cent.

Elite Group chief executive officer Ninad Shah, who was among officials who received the minister, said the sector was already showing signs of recovery.

'There has been a lot of economic development in Bahrain in the last few years,' he said, adding that the country's recovery would be quick.

'We fully support the government's move to beef up security which is a very good sign. Once that is achieved, people will start to return and all businesses will look up.'

Shah said most of the expenses of the group, which employs more than 700 people including 250 Bahrainis, were fixed expenses that had to be made.

'This is the case with the entire sector,' he said.

An official at Mercure Grand Hotel, Seef, said the occupancy at the hotel was around 11 per cent.

'It was very bad a few weeks ago, but we can see a recovery. Hopefully, the situation will improve,' he said.

A Gulf Hotel spokesman said the situation had improved to around 20 per cent, as opposed to between 10 and 15 per cent a few weeks ago.

'We are certainly looking up but have a long way to go,' he said.

However, an official at Juffair's Al Safir Hotel said the occupancy rate remained a static 14 to 15 per cent over the last few weeks.

'We are hoping it would improve soon,' he said.

In Manama, the Delmon International Hotel has had an occupancy rate of between 20and 25 per cent, but only on weekends, said an official yesterday.

'As long at the night curfew remains in place and restrictions on the causeway, we will see very little improvement,' he said.

Golden Tulip Hotel said the curfew in place and restrictions on the causeway meant low occupancy rates.

'These two issues have to be addressed before we can see any marked improvement over the 20 per cent occupancy we are having now,' said an official.-TradeArabia News Service