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330,000 GCC tourists visited Sharjah in 2009

Sharjah - Under the organization of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA), a delegation of the biggest tourism authorities representing Sharjah will go on a road show across several GCC countries to promote tourism in Sharjah, and attract GCC tourists. Places visited by the road show, which runs from 14 to 20 April, will include Doha, Qatar, Kuwait and the KSA (including Al Damam, Riyadh and Jeddah).

The SCTDA road show comes as the Authority seeks to stimulate tourism in the region and promote tourism in Sharjah.

The delegation from Sharjah moved on to Kuwait, their second destination. This year,

the SCTDA had organized specialized workshops in collaboration with the biggest tourism and travel companies in Kuwait, which were well attended by several Kuwaiti media representatives. Over 18,893 Kuwaiti tourists visited Sharjah last year; which shows the popularity that Sharjah is gaining as a tourism destination.

The SCTDA road show will lead towards KSA as well (Riyadh and Jeddah). The road show is a prelude to the Sharjah Summer Promotions 2010, which is scheduled to run from 16^th June – 25^th July this year. The Summer Promotions; have been planned to include exciting shows, activities and discounts aimed at promoting summer shopping in Sharjah.

Last year 110 new hotels facilities have been opened in the emirate of Sharjah, and that renews the figure to 8,728 hotels overall in the emirate. This depicts the rapid growth of the hospitality sector. The SCTDA has always taken commendable efforts to support the economic growth in Sharjah which is at par with the increased development in the tourism sector.

Tourist flow into the emirate rose to 1.4 million tourists in 2009 compared to 600,000 tourists in 2001, while overall room occupancy in Sharjah came to 69%. Total hotel facilities amounted to 110 units (including 41 hotels and 69 hotel apartments).

GCC tourists constituted 24% - an amount of 330,000 tourists - of the total tourists visiting Sharjah last year, which is encouraging the emirate to continue offering more services and facilities for GCC tourists, thus raising the tourism sector in the emirate to new heights

Supporting Sharjah’s status as a leading tourism destination on the global tourism scene is one of the top priorities for the SCTDA, especially as the emirate has become one of the favorite tourism destinations for many tourists across the globe. The promotional tours organized by SCTDA, and especially the GCC road show, which was started 8 years ago, have become an important stage on which the Authority continues to showcase Sharjah’s various tourist attractions