More than 5,000 people visited the Bahrain International Travel Expo (BITE 2008) during the first three hours of its opening yesterday, according to organisers.

The turnout is extremely encouraging, said Jamil Wafa, group chairman of Magnum Holdings, the parent company of Magnum Events and Exhibitions Management (MEEM), the organisers of BITE .

About 120 exhibitors from 44 countries are taking part in the exhibition, being held under the patronage of Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and Economic Development Board chairman Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

Information Minister Jihad Bukamal opened the four-day event in a ceremony held at Bahrain International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) on Wednesday evening.

"The opening of the three-day exhibition provided the convenience of the weekend and made it more consumer-friendly," Wafa told the Gulf Daily News, our sister newspaper.

"Hundreds of visitors from Saudi Arabia came as it was a weekend holiday for them. We expect the number of visitors to cross 20,000 when the expo ends on Saturday evening."

In four years, the exhibition space has grown from 1,000 sq m to 8,000 sq m.

The exhibition is open to the consumers and visitors from 4 pm to 10 pm today, and from 10 am to 6 pm tomorrow.

MEEM chairman Hisham Al Baradie and executive director Abraham John said they were extremely delighted at the positive response from the visitors.

"One of the attractions at the exhibition is a remote controlled flying zeppelin," said John. This has been brought from Germany and is accompanied by two technical experts."

John said the zeppelin would be moved to the Seef Mall today and tomorrow.

The race car displayed at the two-storey Etihad Airways stand is also attracting hundreds of people.

The Thailand Tourism stand is displaying health products and a doctor from Thailand checks the blood pressure of the visitors.

Bahrain's Labour Fund is participating for the first time. They will be holding a seminar to highlight its role in supporting the private sector and the tourism industry in particular, by providing the skilled human capital for added value jobs and career opportunities.

The seminar will be held tomorrow from 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm, at the Elite Suites in Sanabis.

The Labour Fund has a booth at the event dedicated to explaining the current developments of Bahrain's national workforce and to display the programmes that they could benefit from both the human capital development and the private sector support initiatives.

Bahrain Training Institute (BTI), which has recently received a licence from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), allowing it to operate as an Authorised Training Centre (ATC), is also participating in BITE for the first time. The BTI has launched their newly-established Travel Academy at the exhibition.

"BITE is the first Business-to-Consumer travel and tourism event in the region," said Mr Wafa.

"It is as much for businesses as it is for the consumers offering a huge variety of services, choices and special deals," he added.

The countries participating for the first time in BITE 2008 are the UAE (Abu Dhabi), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ethiopia, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Morocco, Oman , Spain, Sweden and Tunisia.

Previous participants who have returned to the event are Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belgium, Brunei, China, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Kuwait, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, The Netherlands, Turkey, the UK and the US.

The exhibition encompasses a wide variety of sectors ranging from airlines to car rental companies, conventions and exhibitions, cruise lines, health resorts and spas, hotel accommodation providers, MICE organisers, touri