Saudi Arabia's National Company for Tourism (SYAHYA) aims to increase exposure for its hotels, resorts and convention and exhibition facilities at the AIBTM.
The company operates five resorts, four amusement parks and a popular premier restaurant called Green Mountain besides its flagship Abha Palace Hotel in the Asir region of the Kingdom. Abha Palace Hotel operation manager Nihal Silva said the company will be launching a "Peace of Mind" promotion at the Bahrain event offering special package deals combining sightseeing tours with business to attract meetings planners and organisers in the region. He said the promotion will highlight the scenic setting of the company's properties and will be primarily targeted towards the MICE sector in the GCC. "We feel the MICE sector in GCC will grow significantly as travel to western countries will be restricted and with all the cost cutting exercises the corporate world has to do, our destination will be ideal with facilities and culture we have in Abha," said Silva. Among the exhibition facilities offered by the company are five halls with a total space of 10,000 sq m, a 550-seat auditorium, VIP hall and meeting rooms at the airport hotel exhibition centre. The Abha Palace Hotel has two meeting rooms and two banqueting and conference halls with capacity of 350-600 people. The hotel and the exhibition centre also provides a fully equipped business centre with all modern facilities such as Internet, fax, photocopy as well as secretarial services. Abha Palace also offers a fully equipped gym, swimming pool, two bowling alleys, table tennis, sauna, steam and Jacuzzi. The exhibition centre at the Airport Hotel also features an Olympic-sized pool, gym, steam and sauna rooms, Jacuzzi, 8-lane bowling alley, two tennis courts and two floodlit soccer grounds. Three new restaurants providing Italian and Chinese cuisines as well as a seafood outlet are planned at the hotel.