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The Great F1 Hiccup
BY TARIQ KHONJI
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AND so the F1 days came and went, with Bahrain back to being the quiet, sleepy place it is the rest of the year. On those few short days, Manama seemed to be abuzz with activity, with new faces around more parties happening, more excitement and more business. Well… relatively. Frankly, the most drastic change I noticed around town was that suddenly it became normal to see people wearing miniskirts. Too bad this small pick-up had to end so quickly though, when so much could have been done to keep the F1 momentum going. Major events, such as concerts featuring international acts, were rare in Bahrain, even before the idiotic riots sparked by Nancy Ajram's concert. The reason often cited is that the local population doesn't have the interest, spending power or numbers to support it. That's why Dubai gets The Scorpions, The Darkness, Machine Head, Sepultura, Mark Knopfler, Destiny's Child, Jethro Tull, Julio Iglesias and more, while we're offered Westlife, take it or leave it. For the record, I left it. But F1 attracts tourists in huge numbers who could stay behind a little longer to support other activities. At least that's the theory. The reality is that only around 8,000 fans came through Bahrain International Airport on the special F1 visas, which sounds like a pretty low figure to me. It's great that the regional population is interested enough to fill most of the seats, but surely there are many more people in the world interested in attending the premier international motor sports event than that! Perhaps they stayed away because they don't consider Bahrain to be a destination in itself. It's asking a lot from people to make such a long journey without there being something more to experience. It's more than lack of promotion, because there is a very real shortage of many of the facilities tourists would expect, like decent beaches for example. It goes without saying that Bahrain needs more hotel rooms but the irony is that the hospitality industry itself may be repelling visitors. I know for a fact that hotel rooms can be found in Dubai for less than BD50, even during busy periods such as the Dubai Shopping Festival and GITEX. One of Bahrain's largest travel agencies says that the cheapest room offered to them during F1 was BD53 per night at a certain hotel, which boasts three stars, at least two of which were very generously given. Only eight other hotels of similar standard had rooms (mostly single) in the BD55 to BD75 range and the rest were all BD80 and above. In cartel-like fashion, hotels agreed to package their rates for a minimum of four nights, which means guests paid in full, even for one-night stays. This should be illegal in a free market economy, which Bahrain claims to be. The irony is further ironised by the fact that these were ‘special offers' to a major company, which booked them in bulk. As a result the agency was unable to sell around half of the packages offered. It's unclear how many rooms were paid for but remained empty and for how many nights, but it seems that sub-standard hotels benefited at the expense of tourists, airlines, retailers, travel agencies, restaurants, cafes, nightclubs and the economy in general. During F1, flights from Dubai were operating at full capacity, with extra Oh well. At least we can count on the annual mini-skirts come-back again next year…
(for large attatchments)
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journeys added to accommodate demand. I wonder how many people spent the days in Bahrain and partied the nights away in Dubai? Let's face it; that's what F1 fans want and it's hard to convince them to stay the night if authorities force all establishments to close at 2am. Lower hotels rates there would also leave tourists more spending money, even after factoring in the cost of airfare. 