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Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) has embarked on a roadshow of major European cities to promote the Emirate of Sharjah as a tourist destination. The first part of the European road show includes Austria, Germany and Switzerland and runs from 19-23 May 2014, with further country visits to be announced. More than 250,000 European tourists visited the Emirate during the first quarter of 2014, a 22 percent increase compared with the same period last year.
The SCTDA has identified significant potential for Sharjah in Europe’s outbound tourist market. According to HE Mohamed Ali Al Noman, Chairman of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, the European road show was timed carefully as many travel companies are trying to finalise their product portfolios for 2015.
Sharjah has received global attention this year after being selected as the Islamic Culture Capital for 2014, with 600,000 tourist visitors being recorded during the first quarter of 2014 and two million tourists overall expected to visit the Emirate by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Sharjah has been voted the Capital of Arab Tourism for 2015 by the summit of Arab tourism ministers, which is expected to provide a further boost for the tourism sector next year.
Sharjah continues to invest in long term projects to support the growth of it’s tourism sector in line with its 2020 strategy. The Emirate has already invested some AED1.5 billion (USD 408 million) in 21 Sharjah Islamic Culture Capital 2014 (SICC) projects related to Islam, culture, education and tourism. Additional hotel room capacity is also being added, with 30 new hotels to be finished during the next three years, increasing capacity to 14,000 hotel rooms.
SCTDA organises a calendar of promotional tours throughout the year in major global tourism markets.
Source: Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, The National
