Bahrain has been through a lot since the beginning of the year and its advertising business was the first to suffer from the impact of the regional and local crises, but now things are looking up, said an expert.

Speaking at an event attended by editors-in chief of local newspapers and businessmen,
International Advertising Association (IAA) Bahrain Chapter president Khamis Al Muqla said, 'Our business is the first indicator of the economy, politics affects the economy and the economy affects advertising.'

'This is evident from the figures as there is a 22 per cent drop in advertising expenditure for the period from January to June this year,' he said before a gathering of industry professionals at the Gulf Hotel.

Akhbar Al Khaleej editor-in-chief Anwar Abdulrahman too outlined difficulties faced by publishing houses due to the global recession and its impact on Bahrain.

'Local sources predict an even higher percentage drop. Ramadan has seen some improvement and we hope the rest of the year will improve further, remarked Al Muqla.

'Bahrain also lost many major events during the year starting with Formula 1. We also lost the holding of the 2012 IAA World Congress.

'The good news, however, comes from Batelco, who are celebrating their 30th anniversary and are bringing us together after quite some time, sponsoring this meeting,' he added.

'Batelco is an integral part of modern Bahrain and a provider of telecommunications and media services to our industry.

'They are a very active advertiser. We are very pleased to see Batelco's 30th anniversary campaign with great slogans like 'A passion for connecting Bahrain' and 'Bringing our nation together'.

'This is precisely what we need to achieve for our country. Our industry has to play a role in fostering unity and we need to start with ourselves by bringing our industry together.

'The IAA Bahrain Chapter is the right platform to explore the future and role of our industry in supporting our nation,' he said. 'We would like to hold our gathering regularly. I am pleased to announce that Akhbar Al Khaleej and Gulf Daily News will be our next host,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service