Sharjah unveils 2013 first half tourism statistics
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The Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) recently released its half-yearly results for 2013. As per statistics, the Authority put the hotel occupancy in the emirate at more than 71%, compared to 66% last year, in an overall increase of three percent.
With a total number of 951,592 guests staying in the emirate’s 103 hotel establishments (48 hotels and 55 hotel apartments), an overall increase of 9% in guest numbers was registered. The guests were roughly split between hotels and hotel apartments with 536,047 staying in hotels and 415,545 choosing to stay in hotel apartments, whereas 874,977 guests stayed in the emirates hotel same period last year with 511,620 staying in hotels in hotels and 363,357 in hotel apartments.
Commenting on the half-yearly statistics, SCTDA chairman Mohamed Ali Al Noman, said: “These numbers are a testament to the growth and resilience of Sharjah’s tourism sector, and a reflection of the positive development witnessed by the sector and the path to excellence that the emirate has been pursuing. This year we have stepped up our efforts to target local, regional and international tourism markets.”
The report also shows a seven percent jump in number of hotel room nights and hotel apartment room nights from 999,599 last year (621,359 hotel room nights and 378,249 hotel apartments room nights) to 1,071,829 (611,445 hotel room nights and 460,387 hotel apartments room nights) this year.
Following visitor patterns in recent years, Europeans had the highest share at 37% with some 347,480 tourists from Europe. Amongst the Europeans, Russian tourists lead with 23%.
The Europeans were closely followed by GCC tourists (34%) with some 324,239 people. Asian visitors formed 14% whereas Arab visitors from other countries across the Middle East formed 10%. The Americans, the Africans and Scandinavian tourists formed five percent of visiting tourist.
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