SHARJAH: The Emirate witnessed a 63 per cent jump in visitor numbers from the Asian
country in 2016 compared to 2015, the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development
Authority is focussed on further increasing visits from China.
As part of efforts to further drive Chinese visitor numbers, SCTDA is hosting 15 of the
major outbound Chinese travel companies from the east coast of China on a
familiarization visit to Sharjah over the next week.
The travel operators will be fully immersed in the emirate and exposed to all its facets,
from shopping, to heritage and destination activities, during their stay. As part of the
programme, they will attend a workshop with key local industry stakeholders, with the
objective of signing contracts for increased business over the coming years.
The new visa on arrival for Chinese visitors has really offered wider opportunities for
further potential growth.
Khalid Jasim Al Midfa, Chairman of SCTDA said: “The year 2016 brought many
achievements and successes to Sharjah. The emirate is reaping the benefits of the
forward-thinking initiatives and bold projects and campaigns we have been working on
all year. This year in the first two months we have already exceeded all expectations.
The roadshows covering major cities in China and India are already showing net gains
and we have just returned from successful events in Germany and Russia. These
countries firmly retained their spots among the top ten source markets for Sharjah, with
China and Russia registering double-digit growth rates in 2016 which we are anxious to
develop further throughout 2017.”
