HE Khalid Jasim Al Midfa, Director General of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, has underscored the importance of cooperation and coordination between government agencies and private sector in tourism sector to boost UAE’s leading position regionally and globally. In this respect, he praised the efforts of the National Council for Tourism and Antiquities for providing federal umbrella to the tourism sector in the emirates while maintaining their unique character and identity.

This came in his remarks on the occasion of the Europe road show currently underway under the auspices by the National Council for Tourism and Antiquities, which includes top representatives of various government agencies and private sector players working the tourism sector across the country.

The Europe road show, being held from May 13 to 15, brings together various emirates under the leadership of the NCTA and includes workshops and meetings in the capitals of Germany and the Netherlands.

Underlining the importance of German tourism market, one of the major markets in Europe, AL MiIdfa said Germany happens to be a key tourism feeding market for Sharjah. Last year the emirate received in excess of 85,000 tourists from Germany while the overall number of travellers it received from Europe stood at 621,315.

In the first quarter of this year, Sharjah has received more than 190,000 tourists from Europe. AL MiIdfa hoped that the Europe road show will help Sharjah in reaching out to growing, new markets such as Holland.

The SCTDA Director General said that the Europe road show is part of the Authority’s agenda to promote and showcase Sharjah in major European capitals in order to attract more tourists and investments into the tourism sector directly helping the economy.

The SCTDA organises a number of promotional tours and road shows in major capitals and cities of the Gulf and European countries throughout the year. It has just concluded a very successful road show across the GCC countries in April.

Last year, the Authority conducted three rounds of road shows in the cities of Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the Gulf including workshops in Kuwait Qatar and Oman. Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan were part of the second leg of the promotional campaign.