The Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority is focussed on increasing visits from China as the emirate witnessed a 63 per cent jump in visitor numbers from the Asian country in 2016 compared to 2015.

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 familiarisation 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."

Additional familiarisation visits have been planned to align with sales visits and overseas exhibitions, covering key cities in China. Work will also begin with Malaysian markets this year. - TradeArabia News Service