The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) announced yesterday that French hospitality management college, Vatel, is set to launch in October, during a meeting highlighting its key achievements.

Vatel aims to train the national workforce in the hospitality sector as well as provide them with a wide array of exciting career opportunities.

During the session, the BTEA also revealed that the Saudi office witnessed a significant increase in the number of tour operators that promotes Bahrain as destination, from 48 to 150 agencies. The office has also doubled the number of travel packages promoting the Kingdom, from 200 to 400. Similarly, the Russian office also witnessed an increase in the number of tour operators that promote Bahrain, from 20 to 50 agencies, and the number of tourist packages increased significantly from 45 to 1,400 packages.

“The tourism sector in the Kingdom continues to witness a remarkable progress and growth following BTEA’s inauguration of seven representative offices around the world. These offices work to promote the Kingdom’s tourism sector by coordinating with several tour operators to increase inbound tourism, further positioning Bahrain as an ideal tourist destination. BTEA’s strategy focuses on developing the Kingdom’s tourism sector and shifting this vibrant sector to be one of the main contributors to the national economy and the Kingdom’s 2030 Economic Vision,” said the CEO of BTEA, H.E. Shaikh Khaled bin Humood Al Khalifa.