More than 250k visitors entered through Causeway during Eid

Manama : More than 250,000 travellers entered the country through King Fahad Causeway during Eid Al Adha holidays.

The highest number was recorded on Sunday, the third day of Eid, when 106,000 travellers entered the Kingdom through its only land entrance.

According to data revealed by the Passports Department on the Saudi side of the causeway, 254,000 travellers passed through to Bahrain on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Passports Department Director Lieutenant Colonel Dhiwaihi Al Sehli announced that 65,000 people crossed the causeway from Saudi to Bahrain on the first day of Eid and 83, 000 on the second day.

Al Sehli said in a statement issued yesterday that 21 lanes were opened during the holiday for travellers exiting Saudi Arabia to facilitate the exit of the huge numbers of vehicles. He also said five lanes were opened to receive visitors, who were considerably less numbered.

Saudi press reported that traffic was congested on the causeway during the holidays, with waiting periods crossing four hours to get through and queues of cars extending to six kilometres.

This comes as efforts are intensified to promote Bahrain as a tourism hub in the GCC region and attract more visitors from the neighbouring countries, especially during public holidays.

GCC citizens, mainly families, prefer to visit Bahrain through its land entrance, so they could visit the various tourist attractions in the Kingdom by using their personal vehicles.

DT News reported yesterday that occupancy rates of four- and five stars hotels in Bahrain during the Eid Al Adha holidays reached 90 per cent, considered among the highest in the region.