Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) had its biggest and most distinct participation yet at ITB Berlin.
The emirate’s attendance came as a result of its successful participation last year, when it was crowned as Best Middle Eastern Exhibitor based on an evaluation by the College of Business at the University of Cologne, Germany.
Spearheaded by Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qassimi, SCTDA chairman, the delegation representing Sharjah included members from 14 establishments from both the government and private sectors.
“There’s no doubt that Sharjah’s participation at the ITB is in line with our convictions as promotional strategy setters and developers of new tourism tools, as the concept of promotion is interpreted as one of the main aspects in the marketing of tourism destinations,” said Al Qassimi.
“In addition, the ITB exhibition sets the stage for discussing and exchanging the latest trends and technologies in tourism, opening up numerous opportunities for commercial trade and tourism investments between participating countries. So, we ensured that this year Sharjah was represented by establishments from both the government and private sectors from the emirate in order to draw the full picture of the tourism industry and investments in the emirate.
“International tourism exhibitions provide the perfect setting to bring out the Sharjah tourism product and to get exposure amongst extreme worldwide competition. Sharjah’s suite at the exhibition was a great stage to promote the ‘family tourism’ aspect of Sharjah, which isn’t that well known on the international tourism scene. Furthermore, the cultural, historical, humane and educational dimensions of Sharjah add a distinctive attraction to the emirate as Sharjah promotes its tourism packages according to its distinctiveness and high international status.”
He added that the number of European visitors to the emirate, and particularly Germans, saw a significant increase following last year’s show saying: “Undoubtedly, the increased flow of German tourists to Sharjah reflects the importance of taking part in a big event such as ITB to promote Sharjah’s outstanding tourism aspects.”