More Than 1.73 Million Tourists Visited Sharjah In Year 2012

Noman: 2012 A Year Of Success And Accolades, Awards

Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority released the tourism statistics forYear 2012 on the sidelines of the ITB Berlintoday citing tremendous and continuous growth of Sharjah’s tourism sector. More than 1,739,240 tourists visited the emirate in 2012registeringa remarkable 11 per cent growth over previous year’s figure of 1,562,869, according to the annual statistics report released at the high-profile international tourism and travel convention in the German capital.

The 2012 tourism statisticsrecord hotel occupancy ratein the range of emirate at 75 percent while the occupancy percentage of hotel apartments in the emirate stands at 72 percent. The overall average of hotel and hotel apartment occupancystands at 74 percent.

Year 2012 also saw a remarkable increase in overall hoteloccupancy, touching 2,045,690 room nights which includes 1,215,636 hotel room nightsand830,054 hotel apartment room nights, showing an increase of 13 percent from previous year (2011), which had record 1,804,530 room nights, including 1,026,934 hotel room nights and 777,596 hotel apartment room nights.

The number of hotel facilities has also undergone a change in Sharjah with the number of hotelsand hotel apartments standingat 101 (55 hotel apartments and 46 hotels) and number of rooms reaching9,141. The number of hotel rooms now stands at 5,171 rooms while 3,970 is the number of hotel apartment rooms.

As for the profile of Sharjah’s visitors, the Europeans and Gulf nationals rank first in the number of tourists the emirate received last year. While at 621,315 the Europeans form 36 per cent of Sharjah’s total number of tourists, the GCC tourist numbers stood at 618,487 forminganother 36 percent. The tourists from other Arab countries stood at 220,617 representing 13 per cent. Asian tourists at 227,554 formed another 13 per cent chunk of Sharjah’s tourists during Year 2012.

Commenting on the annual statistics, HE Mohamed Ali Al Noman, Chairman, SCTDAsaid thatthe positive statistics are a testament to continuous growth and progress in the tourism sector in the emirate, underscoring Sharjah’s leading position in the region. He said thatSharjah today figures high in the list favorite tourist destinations forboth European and GCC visitors and it’s because of this standing and the diversity of its tourism profile and experience that the honour of being chosen the Arab Tourism Capital for Year 2015had come its way.

Al Noman said that Year 2012 had been truly special for Sharjah at many levels and in many respects which reflected itself seen in the tremendous success of its various events and exhibitions, international participations as well as in winning numerous international accolades and awards.

The emirate also launched a bouquet of world-class tourism projects and events celebrating culture and environmentproviding an ideal atmosphere for tourists, he emphasized.

Al Noman said that the Authority accorded highest importance to the promotion of Sharjah and its tourism product in the list of its priorities and annual strategies. No effortis being spared to project and raise the emirate’s profile as an ideal tourist destination through various exhibitions, events and festivals, emphasized the SCTDA Chairman.

The Authority has been proactively showcasing Sharjah at all importantinternational exhibitions, conferences and travel and tourism sector events, notably ITB Berlin,said A Noman pointing out that occasions such as these offer an excellent platform and opportunity to interact with policymakers and decision makers and apprise oneself with latest developments and trends in the industry. Sharjah has won itself numerous awards and honours its participation in the ITB over the past several years. Last year, the Sharjah pavilion won the Best Exhibitor in the Middle East award once again.

Al Noman also talked about theworld-class popular family festivals and entertainment events organized by the SCTDA throughout the year, attractingthousands of visitors from within and outside the country. The Sharjah Light Festival and Sharjah Water Festival attract hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the region and beyond every year, he said emphasizing the diversity of Sharjah’s tourism offering, heritage, culture and natural and historic tourist attractions that make it a global tourist destination.

“This growing international recognition andaccolades and honours coming Sharjah’s way, also reflected in the significant increase in the number of tourists last year, adds to ourresponsibility to work for greater success and growth, developing integrated strategies to promote Sharjah locally, regionally and internationally and attract more visitors,” concluded Al Noman.

Emirate:  Sharjah

Date: Mar 9, 2013

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