Manama Gold Festival 2023 wraps up at Bab Al Bahrain
Manama, The Gulf Observer: Under the patronage of Fatima Bint Jaffer Al Sairafi, Tourism Minister, the second edition of the Manama Gold Festival 2023 wrapped up on Monday with a closing ceremony held at Bab Al Bahrain.
Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) board members, members of the Souq Al Manama development committee, representatives of the business community, and gold traders attended the ceremony.
The second edition of the Manama Gold Festival 2023 witnessed a huge success, with 5,543 shoppers recorded over the course of 45 days, representing 61 nationalities worldwide, up 257% from 1,549 shoppers from 12 nationalities the previous year.
Starting on April 13 to May 31, the festival hosted five weekly draws on a total of 62 raffle prizes, along with two grand prizes and13 weekly winners.
The festival featured 416 gold, jewelry, and pearl shops in Souq Al Manama, up from 203 shops in the first version 2022, a 105% increase.
This year’s festival provided weekly, instant, and grand prizes, as well as informative and artistic installations about Bahraini gold history by Bahraini artists and designers. In addition to organizing a pop-up market, including F&B trucks, women outwear vendors, and wood crafts vendors.
Workshops were held specializing in gold, its types, price, raw gold, the art of goldsmithing, the art of designing and applying jewelry in the classroom, and 3D-style drawing on paper.
The festival also hosted live music shows featuring The Brother Guitarists, Hazem Alrawas, Silvia Saad, Abdulla Haji, Noor Albasri, and Basma Osman.
“We are delighted to bring the second edition of the Manama Gold Festival 2023 to a successful conclusion that has a positive impact by adding more splendor and glow to Souq Al Manama’s long-standing genuineness with its renowned trade and tourist history” the minister said.
“The festival’s success story will undoubtedly pave the way towards achieving tourism strategy 2022-2026 and accelerating tourism development strides, which in turn will boost this promising industry’s contribution to the national economy” she added.
“We are pleased with the success of this festival, recording a high level of visitors attending this year’s festival from locals, expats, and tourists from around the globe” Dr. Nasser Qaedi, CEO of BTEA commented.
“The festival grossed around 4 million BD with over 8,400 receipts, a 220% increase from 1.25 million BD in 2022. These overwhelming figures reflect the excellent reputation of Bahraini gold and jewelry and their ultimate desirability among shoppers. We at BTEA recommit to adopt innovative and out-of-the-box tourism offerings to diversify tourism products in order to attract more tourists and new markets” he added.
“We are thrilled with the festival’s impressive outcome this year. The 4 million BD spent mirror Manama Gold’s amazing achievement, drawing many buyers and tourists and playing a vital role in gold trade recovery in one of the oldest and most genuine markets regionally and globally” Nabeel Al Zain, Bahrain Gold Association Chairman, said.
“We are looking forward to enhancing our cooperation with BTEA to sustain and develop this festival for many years to come” he added.
“The Manama Gold Festival has been a valuable addition to Manama Souq that markedly helped this historic market to recover with diverse shopping options, primarily the well-known Bahraini gold and jewelry” Sayed Fadhel Sharaf, Souq Al Manama development committee member and “Hekayat Al Manama” initiative founder said.
“We highly appreciate the ministry of tourism and BTEA’s relentless efforts to level up Bahrain’s tourism, which will positively affect the Manama Souq development process” he added.
There are 32 gold shops are sponsoring the festival’s prizes this year, mainly: Malabar Jewelry, Jumbo Gold, Alseef Jewelry, Mashallah City, Altawheed Jewelry, Alhashimi Pearls, Aljasrah Jewelry, Alsharhan Pearls, Niyaz Pearls, Manama Pearl, Bin Naser Jewelry, Alnafeeseh Jewelry, Tbabat Al Bahrain Jewelry and Bahar Jewelry.
