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Tourist Arrival Up 5pc to 1.53 Million in Sharjah

SHARJAH - Sharjah tourism sector continued the substantial growth last year that it saw in 2007, with the overall number of guests climbing from the 1 .45 million seen in 2007, to 1.53 million in 2008, achieving growth of over five per cent.

The Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) has announced detailed statistics for the performance of Sharjah’s tourism sector for the year ending December 31, 2008. During this period, the tourism sector continued the substantial growth that it saw in 2007, with the overall number of guests climbing from the 1 .45 million seen in 2007, to 1.53 million in 2008, achieving growth of over five per cent.

This increase in tourism pushed the overall occupancy in Sharjah’s hotels to 86 per cent in 2008, up from 85 per cent in 2007. Occupancy in hotel apartments rose to 86 per cent in 2008 up from 85 per cent in 2007.

The total occupancy of hotels and hotel apartments in the emirate of Sharjah was 80 per cent in 2008, maintaining the same rate of 2007 and showing sustained growth in 2008 despite the impact of the global economic crisis on the tourism sectors in the fourth quarter of 2008. The number of hotels and hotel apartments in the emirate has increased by 7 per cent to 103 hotel premises during 2008, 37 hotels and 66 hotel apartments, as compared to 96 hotel premises, 33 hotels and 63 hotel apartments.

Accordingly, the number of hotel rooms increased to 3,896 in 2008 from 3,721 in 2007, while the number of hotel apartment rooms rose to 3,751 in 2008, compared to 3,238 in 2007. The total number of hotel and hotel apartment rooms rose to7647 rooms, a 10 percent increase over the 6,959 rooms that were available in 2007.

The number of guests surged to 1,535,234 in 2008, a five percent growth as compared to the 1,456,058 guests reported last year. The number of hotel and hotel apartment guests climbed to 824,135 and 711,099, respectively, against 722,948 and 733,110 recorded in 2007.

Figures also show that the total number of occupied room nights rose to 1,504,859 in 2008, up from 1,498,197 in 2007.This figure includes 882,599 guests in hotels, up from847,556 and 622,260 guests in hotel apartments compared to 650,641 in 2007.

According to statistics from SCTDA, European tourists accounted for 35 per cent of the total tourist arrivals to the emirate in 2008, while GCC tourists accounted for 27 per cent and 12 per cent came from other Arab countries. Asian tourists made up 23 per cent of the total, while tourists from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Pacific region made up the remaining 3 per cent.

aneela@khaleejtimes.com