Manama: Around 300,000 people came into Bahrain last week, a senior interior ministry official has said.
The Assistant Undersecretary for Ports, Search and Follow-up at the General Directorate of Nationality, Passports and Residence (GDNPR) said that 299,154 people had entered Bahrain from January 28 to February 3.
He said that 241,261 arrived from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries via King Fahad Causeway, 55,774 through Bahrain International Airport and 2,119 through seaports.
On Thursdays, the directorate publishes weekly statistics of the movement into the country.
The figures indicate that the 25-km causeway, Bahrain’s only terrestrial link with a neighbouring country, has remained by far the principal route used by travellers to enter the country.
The causeway, opened on November 26, 1986 by the late King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz and the late Emir Shaikh Eisa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, has been a crucial factor in the increase of the numbers of people arriving in Bahrain, mainly from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, and of Bahrain-based people travelling beyond the island kingdom.
According to official figures, around 27,000 travellers a day use the causeway where around 5,000 employees work in three shifts.
Several Saudi Arabia-based Saudi nationals and foreigners who work or study in Bahrain commute daily while a large number of Bahrain-based expatriates and Bahrainis use the causeway daily to go to their work or universities.
Strong family links between Gulf citizens are a significant factor in the exchange of visits over the causeway.
Movie theatres screening the latest movies and shopping complexes are considered among the top reasons for trips by Saudi families or Saudi Arabia-based foreigners to Manama.
The causeway is also used by trucks, mainly from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, heading towards Bahrain to deliver or load products.
Drivers who use the causeway pay a BD2.5 (Dh24) or a SR25 fee, but no charges are imposed on passengers, regardless of their numbers.
