Sharjah Sees A Growth In Hotel Properties

Sharjah’s performance in the tourism sector has been evaluated for the first half of the year 2009 by Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA). The statistics have been calculated and according to that there were 671,662 guests in the emirate’s hotel apartment properties and hotels. The overall occupancy of these hotels was calculated as 64 percent. Moreover, the total hotel apartments and hotels in Sharjah were up 7 percent to 109. If we compare this figure with 2008, the figure was 102 during the same period.

The number of available rooms got increased by the increase in the number of hotel apartment properties and hotels to 8,523. It has increased by 14 percent as in the corresponding period in 2008, the rooms recorded were 7,486. The number of hotel apartments has been increased by from 3,573 to 4,248 and the number of hotel rooms has been increased from 3,913 to 4,275. A complete data has been collected in the form of figures which shows that in the first half of 2009, around 359,151 guests stayed in hotels and around 312,511 stayed in hotel apartments.

Moreover, the total number of rooms which were occupied for first half of 2009 was 728,475. There is a complete tourist statistics as well according to their nationalities. As per the statistics of all tourists visiting the emirate of Sharjah, European tourists accounted for 32 percent of all tourists. Tourists from other Arab countries accounted for 14 percent; similarly there were other GCC tourists which contributed around 28 percent. Of total visitors, 20 percent of them were Asians, while the remaining 6 percent of the calculation were being filled by Australian, Canadian, African and other Pacific tourists.