Sharjah soaks up tourists

Sharjah should not be underestimated as part of the thrive for tourism in the United Arab Emirates. In fact, the tourism sector in Sharjah continues to increase in the first half of the year as its tourism and hotel occupancy level stood firmly above 75 percent. This is due to an influx of visitors from Europe and GCC states in the wake of unrest in the region. The emirate attracted 768,061 tourists from around the world in first half as it launched various initiatives to promote its tourist attractions, heritage, cultural activities, fun and games events in addition to numerous special offerings and promotions by hotel establishments. According to statistics released by the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, the number of hotel room nights and hotel apartment room nights rose 16 per cent to 908,309 this year. There are 106 hotel establishments in Sharjah, withholding a total number of 768,061 guests. There has been an increase of three percent in guest numbers. Approximately 409,285 are staying in hotels and 358,776 have stayed in hotel apartments. The Europeans once again took the lion’s share at 40 per cent with some 305,226 tourists from Europe visiting the emirate in the first half of 2011. Amongst the Europeans, Russian tourists lead with 24 per cent.