Bahrain eContent Award Competition (4)

The free day is over and you could see it on the streets. There were traffic jams again. Today is an important day for the Kingdom of Bahrain. Bahrain will be bustling as the Financial Harbour will be openen offcially. The Financial Harbour (see illustration - click to enlarge) is a spectacular office project for the financial world. With this project Baharain wants to superceed Abu Dabi in the United Arab Emirates, which has traditionally been the financial center of the Middele East. When I was here in 2005 the building of the office blocks had just started. Now the buildings are completed including airplane warning lights. The architecture is spectacular as more buildings show. The two sails building of the Chambers of Commerce are also spectacular. The building is still under construction.

I had a free day also and in the afternoon I had lunch at a tourist side resort, hotel, restaurants, a sand beaches and beautiful turqoise coloured water. We talked about some big plans for Bahrain. In the Gulf region usually Dubai is mentioned in television programs because of the palm tree islands and the many hotels. Dubai is fast becoming a tourist destination. People who have had it with Spain, Greece and Turkey, when they stay in Europe, and Thailand and Indonesia, when they go to Asia, will be happy with Dubai, especially during the European winter time. When I was there in 2003 I noticed especially Germans, well to do people, to be there. This time I even noticed two Dutch couples with kids going to Bahrain and I take it that this is not because Michael Jackson was/is here. So Bahrain might be the next tourist spot.

Today we are in the final stage of the Bahrain eContent competition. The nominations of the Bahrain eContent have been approved been approved: 24 nominations and 4 special mentions. Not all categories have 5 nominations, partly because there were not enough entries, partly because of the lack of quality. But I have seen some nice new sites. The nominations and the special awards will be made known at the Bahrain eContent Award Competition ceremony. A special commiittee will select the entries that will be forwarded to the World Summit Award, to be judged in Croatia coming September.

Tonight I will be flying home to Amsterdam. It will be a night flight.

Blog Posting Number: 741

Tags: content competition, World Summit Award