Sharjah: The Sharjah Museums Department (SMD) is hoping to lure Chinese travellers and other tourists around the world to the emirate in its participation in the Beijing International Tourism Expo (Bite 2013) at the China National Convention Centre from June 21 to 23.
“The Beijing exhibition offers us a great opportunity to promote our museums and introduce their unique cultural offerings to both the participants and visitors,” Manal Ataya, SMD Director-General, said.
“Along with developing awareness about our 16 museums and highlighting the fact that they are unique tourist attractions, SMD’s participation in the expo will allow the department to exchange information and network with other tourism and hospitality organisations. By strengthening ties in this way, SMD aims to sign agreements with major tourism companies to attract Chinese tourists to the museums,” Ataya added.
The Sharjah delegation, led by the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, will showcase the emirate as the Cultural Capital of the Arab world in 1998 and the Cultural Capital of the Islamic world for 2014 at the exhibition.
Ataya said it is important to court China’s 20 million tourists who travel annually, making China the world’s largest tourism market.
“Our attendance at Bite 2013 will help to further expand the burgeoning Chinese tourism market,” Ataya said. “The number of Chinese travellers to Sharjah has risen dramatically in recent years as the country’s vast tourism market continues to grow.”
Sharjah welcomed more than 227,554 tourists from Asia, representing 13 per cent of the total number of international visitors to the emirate, last year.
