Bahrain receives four million tourists per year. Most of the tourists come from the Arab States of the Persian Gulf but there is a growing number of tourists from other parts of the world. The Lonely Planet guide describes Bahrain as “an excellent introduction to the gulf” due to its Arab heritage and its reputation as a modern and safe country.

The ancient civilization Dilmún, which was the dominant trade between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley culture, had its center in Bahrain. There are still temples, tens of thousands of burial mounds and other traces of the settlement that are now part of Bahrain’s landscape.