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Under the organization of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA), a delegation of the biggest tourism authorities representing Sharjah will go on a road show across several GCC countries to promote tourism in Sharjah, and attract GCC tourists. Places visited by the road show, which runs from 14 to 20 April, will include Doha, Qatar, Kuwait and the KSA (including Al Damam, Riyadh and Jeddah).

The SCTDA road show comes as the Authority seeks to stimulate tourism in the region and promote tourism in Sharjah. In addition to the SCTDA, the delegation will include several institutions concerned with promoting tourism in Sharjah, such as the Sharjah Millennium Hotel, the Golden Tulip Hotel, Embassy Hotel Suites, Marbella Resort, the Sharjah Premiere Hotel, Lulua Beach and Resort, Ruby Living Courts Hotel Apartments and Ilaf Tours.

H.E. Mohamed A. Al Noman, Director General of the SCTDA, believes that the road show will help promote Sharjah as a leading tourism destination on the regional tourism scene through its numerous marketing and promotional campaigns.

According to Al Noman, tourist flow into the emirate rose to 1.4 million tourists in 2009 compared to 600,000 tourists in 2001, while overall room occupancy in Sharjah came to 69%. Total hotel facilities amounted to 110 units (including 41 hotels and 69 hotel apartments) last year, with overall hotel units increasing to 8,727. These numbers reflect the huge growth of tourism in the emirate of Sharjah, said Al Noman.

Furthermore, GCC tourists constituted 24% - an amount of 330,000 tourists - of the total tourists visiting Sharjah last year, which is encouraging the emirate to continue offering more services and facilities for GCC tourists, thus raising the tourism sector in the emirate to new heights, he noted.

"Supporting Sharjah's status as a leading tourism destination on the global tourism scene is one of the top priorities for the SCTDA, especially as the emirate has become one of the favorite tourism destinations for many tourists across the globe. The promotional tours organized by SCTDA, and especially the GCC road show, which was started 8 years ago, have become an important stage on which the Authority continues to showcase Sharjah's various tourist attractions," he concluded.

The SCTDA GCC road show comes ahead of the Sharjah Summer Promotions 2010, taking place from 16 June to 25 July, and will include exciting shows, activities and discounts aimed at promoting summer shopping in Sharjah.