Branding Bahrain
10 Sep, 2007 
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This is a very exciting day for me today. I’m sitting with the cream of society (Qassim Haddad is to my left, along with Steve Harrison of the British Embassy and Martin Whitaker from the BIC and Dina Kasrawi of the EDB to my right at the same table, that should give you an idea of how good this is) in a workshop at the luscious Banyan Tree Desert Resort in a workshop about branding Bahrain and its future… Our Bahrain is the emphasis of the brand in portraying the need for the whole country to have a shared vision, and selling it to the outside world is very much a collective effort.
Needless to say, I shall update you with more details later..
Any ideas?
It’s not true a guest can’t order room service in Ramadan, I checked with several hotels and some of them let the guests eat in their coffe shops and resturants during day time in Ramadan
I agree with the above completely. i also made my comments about Dubai carefully: i didn’t say it was a great place, i said they ahd successfully promoted thier brand OUTSIDE the Gulf.
I hate Dubai, it’s hell on earth for me, and the reason (and difference with Bahrain) is that it is soulless. here we have a soul, but it’s small, it’s limited and it’s, well, … quaint. That’s it.
I cannot see anything revolutionizing this place until we have one, single, united vision on our way forward. Where is that? What is it? Who are our visionaries?
Actions speak louder than words.
Indeed they do, and that’s the crux of the whole issue. This whole campaign – if you notice – is to unify the message (not necessarily centralising it) which hopefully will morph into a shared vision. That, regardless of our geographic location or actual size – metaphorically and physically – allows us to punch at least in our weight-class.
Yes too, this whole transformation should depend on actualities on the ground and really changing ingrained structures rather than just sexy words and images done by whoever is chosen at the end of the day.
OBG too seems to be pessimistic – or at least appear to not believe that we have the political will – in taking this new program forward, maybe partly because it has been tried time and again or those in power have cried wolf too often, but we have to insist on this change. We really don’t have anything to lose by fully supporting it and everything to gain if it succeeds.
Ammar, if you notice, the communique is vague enough to be interpreted however you want. I suggest that they would not dare restrict room service during Ramadhan as they will actually go against Islam in this regards: those who are sick or travelling are allowed to break their fast and all that good stuff.
Bahrain major investment hub
MANAMA: Massive infrastructure development has triggered a real estate boom in Bahrain, says a report. “These projects have positioned the country on the world’s real-estate map and transformed it into a favourite investment destination in the world,” the economic report published by the London-based Asharq Al Awsat daily said. “Four huge projects, the Bahrain Financial Harbour, Durrat Al Bahrain, Al Areen and Riffa Views as well other projects were behind the current boom,” the report added. “Thanks to these projects, Bahrain has become an international holiday destination as the number of tourists has increased from 4.6m last year to 4.8 this year and is expected to expand with the opening of Bahrain-Qatar causeway in 2010.” The report pointed out to the investment-friendly laws and no taxes on real estate and the transfer of money abroad have led to this boom.
Gas talks success
MANAMA: Negotiations to import gas from Iran have made great progress with the second round of talks scheduled in Tehran next month, Oil and Gas Affairs Minister and National Oil and Gas Authority chairman Dr Abdulhussain Mirza said. He said that the Iranian delegation which visited Bahrain last week had held successful negotiations with the Bahraini technical committee on importing gas.
Here are some bits of information I heard or read over the last couple of days. Are these signs of the boom or bomb to come ?
1- Zain (MTC) bought a 25 story building in Seef for BD 14Mil to use as a regional headquarters for the group, some 400 employees and family are due to relocate to Bahrain in the next year. An investment bank in Bahrain was also interested in the same building.
2- Zain top management tried to find a place to hold a 4 day conference in Bahrain after the new identity launch but couldn’t find any available space in Bahrain hotels so they held it in their headquarters in Seef
3- A Kuwaiti family tried last week to find a place to stay after making the mistake of not booking in advance, but to no avail so it had to go back to Khobar for a place to stay.
http://www.travel4arab.com/vb/showthread.php?t=144814&page=2
4- Al Shayea wanted to rent warehouses in Bahrain but couldn’t find any so he rented in the Dammam Industrial Area.
5- 10,000 visitors to the Dilmun Water Park in Areen on the first week, Tickets are BD12 for Adults and BD8 for children, Towels and lockers are BD2 each and the food average cost is BD2.5 . So it’s not cheap.
6- A land was sold in Seef for BD180 per foot.
7- 85% of Durrat Al Bahrain Villas have been sold . villas start from BD 195,000 to over BD 600,000
8- Tameer Al Khaleej and KFH bought 600,000 sqm in Durrat at the beginning of this year to build a 400 moors Marina and marketed a fund which was fully subscribed, also they bought an additional 100,000 sqm to bring the total area of their project to 700,000 sqm.