UAE – Mubasher: Sharjah recorded a 3% growth in the number of hotel guests last year, as shown by the data of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA).

The emirate received around 1.8 million hotel guests in 2019 with a hotel occupancy rate of 66%, with Russian tourists topping the list of visiting nationalities, followed by GCC countries such as Saudi Arabia and Oman, and then India.

By the end of 2019, Sharjah had more than 10,000 hotel rooms, 1,331 of which are in nine five-star hotels; while 2,733 rooms are in 21 four-star hotels; alongside 2,485 apartments in 40 hotel apartment facilities.

It is worth noting that the tourism sector accounted for more than AED 9 billion or 8.8% of Sharjah’s total gross domestic product (GDP) of AED 102.5 billion in 2015.