Event Destination Guide: Routes Middle East & Africa 2015

Routes Middle East & Africa will bring together over 350 delegates from across Africa and the Middle East to meet and discuss route development opportunities across the region. Hosted by Bahrain Airport Company, the event is expecting 50 airlines, over 70 airports and over 10 tourism authorities.

Bahrain, which name means ‘two seas’ was one of the first states in the Gulf to discover oil and to build a refinery. Home to the US Navy’s fifth fleet, the Kingdom of Bahrain is a banking and financial services centre.

Bahrain is an archipelago of thirty-three small islands in the Arabian Gulf, midway between the Qatar peninsula and Saudi Arabia, and the entire area of Bahrain is just 3.5 times the size of Washington DC.

7 facts you (probably) didn’t know about Bahrain

  1. The highest point of Bahrain is only 122 metres above sea level and is called the Mountain of Smoke, or ‘Jabal ad Dukhan’.
  2. Although the official language is Arabic, farsi (Persian) is also used, and English is the principal language of commerce.
  3. The British School of Bahrain holds the world record for the largest simultaneous coin toss. As part of World Maths Day in 2010, 1,117 staff and students took part in the toss which made it into the Guinness Book of Records.
  4. The Qal’at al-Bahrain (the harbour and capital of the ancient land of Dilmun) and the Bahrain Pearling Trail, in Muharraq, were declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2005 and 2012, respectively.
  5. The largest age group in Bahrain is 25-54 and there are almost twice as many men, at 461,613, as women, just 241,032
  6. Bahrain’s flag used to be the largest flag in the world, setting a Guinness world record in 2004 at 169.5m long and 97.1m wide.
  7. Bahrain was the first scheduled destination for the Concorde from London.

FIND OUT EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE INAUGURAL ROUTES MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA HERE.

Poppy Marello

Poppy joined the Routesonline team after successfully completing a degree in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University. Poppy has a passion for…