Hotels and resorts are one of the main catalysts for tourism growth around the world, as the performance, quality and standards of the sector determine the rate of tourism growth.
Most countries depend on advanced infrastructure, including a network of hotels, resorts and tourism villages, together with the accompanying logistical support, to achieve the goal of promoting their tourist products.
For the past five years, the emirate of Sharjah has been actively developing its tourism sector and since the beginning of 2007, 13 new hotel facilities have been added bringing the number of hotel and hotel apartment rooms to 4,275 and 4,248, respectively.
To help promote the tourism industry a new law came into force at the beginning of 2008 requiring the classification of all hotels and apartment hotels to international standards.
The Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCDTA) issued classification labels to hotels and hotel apartments and inspection tours and regular visits were arranged to ensure the requirements for the new classifications were adhered to and that services rendered to tourists were upgraded.
Now, following 20 months implementation, all 109 premises have been classified between one and five stars.
Maysoon Al Hosani, SCTDA’s licensing and classifications manager, said: “The hotel classification process takes into account such criteria as geographical location, technical and entertainment facilities, the condition of buildings and the level of luxury of services and facilities as well as the professionalism of hotel staff. The first thing we look at is the location, followed by architectural design, rooms and facilities, swimming pools, public areas, customer service levels and entertainment and sporting activities available.”
According to industry observers, the positive impact of the new law was clearly visible on the performance index in the period between the beginning of 2007 and mid-2009. The tourism sector, and other supporting sectors, entered a new market cycle in which it contributed significantly to Sharjah’s economic growth. Hotel occupancy rates remained steady at 85-86 per cent, while hotel apartment occupancy was down by a mere one per cent.
The number of tourists visiting Sharjah from Europe increased by 32 per cent, from GCC countries by 28 per cent, from Asia by 20 per cent, from other Arab countries by 14 per cent, and from CIS countries, the Americas, Africa and the Pacific by six per cent.