Fujairah Tourism Bureau issues call to upgrade infrastructure

The Fujairah Tour-ism Bureau (FTB) has urged local government establishments to help upgrade infrastructure to contribute to the development of Fujairah's tourism industry.

Sheikh Saeed bin Saeed Al Sharqi, Chairman of the Bureau, called for activating a plan drawn up by FTB some years ago, to improve the emirate's infrastructure to attract more tourists to the region.

"We actually started organising our efforts with all other government establishments in Fujairah to improve our tourist services and complete the necessary infrastructure to increase the number of tourists coming to Fujairah directly," said Sheikh Al Sharqi.

The government establishments included in the tourism development plan are the Fujairah Customs Department, Fujairah Municipality, Fujairah Department of Archaeology and Heritage, Fujairah International Airport, Port of Fujairah, Fujairah Department of Naturalisation and Residency and the Fujairah Tourism Bureau.

"We still need government support to set up various projects, exploiting the 90-kilometre-long beach by setting up rest houses, restaurants, cafeterias and public washrooms along the coastal strip, on the outer roads leading to the emirate and at historical and tourist places," he added.

Sheikh Al Sharqi stressed the need for private travel organisations or agents to arrange trips to the emirate and launch special chartered flights to bring tourists to Fujairah from Dubai, or directly from their home countries.

"We need to pave the roads leading to the emirate's tourist and archaeological places and afford easy transportation access to these places, in addition to setting up various restaurants with international cuisines along the coast and building three-star hotels and motels that offer accommodation with reasonable room tariffs for tourists who cannot afford luxury hotels," he explained.

He said the archaeological sites need cleaning and repair work as well as provision of enough archaeological information about each site.

"Our marine sports activities, powerboat racing and diving competitions have attracted a large number of tourists and visitors to the emirate, but more efforts are needed to invest in such international sports gatherings throughout the year, bringing tourists on chartered flights through local travel and tourist agencies," he added.

Sheikh Al Sharqi also highlighted the importance of arranging mountain camping and climbing to attract a large number of European and American tourists.

He stressed the need to encourage more young nationals to work as tourist guides and at major hotels in the emirate.