Increase in number of hotels draws more visitors to Sharjah

Sharjah: The Sharjah Commercial and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA), currently participating in the World Travel Market 2008 (WTM 2008), has issued its statistical report to the end of the third quarter of 2008, which defined growth rates in the emirate's tourism sector until the end of September 2008.

The report shows that the tourism sector in Sharjah continued its rapid growth and noticeable development over the first nine months of 2008, compared to the same period in 2007.

The statistics issued by the SCTDA showed a remarkable increase in the number of hotel visitors in Sharjah up to the end of September 2008, totalling 1,152,181, compared to 1,022,985 for the same period in 2007, while the hotels showed an occupation rate of 75 per cent until the end of September 2008, compared to 72 per cent in the same period in 2007.

The total number of hotels and hotel apartments in Sharjah rose to 103, including 37 hotels and 66 hotel apartments, compared to 74 in the same period of 2007, including 24 hotels and 50 hotel apartments.

As a result of the increase in the number of hotels, the number of hotel rooms went up to 3,913 by the end of September, compared to 3,237 in the same period of last year.

The number of hotel apartment rooms increased to 3,837 by the end of September 2008, compared to 2,843 in the same period of 2007, bringing the total number of rooms in hotels and hotel apartments to 7,750, up from 6,080 in September 2007.