Sharjah, June 28th, 2010 — The Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) has won the award for Most Outstanding Booth at the Beijing International Tourism Expo 2010 (BITE), which held in Beijing from 25 to 27 June 2010.
The SCTDA’s stand was chosen as the winner of the prestigious award from among 800 stands that were exhibiting across an area of over 60,000 square feet.
SCTDA representatives received the award at a grand ceremony attended by the Director General of the Chinese Tourism Authority, the General Organizer of the Exhibition, senior officials, other exhibitors as well as international media representatives.
The jury’s final decision was based on the evaluation of the show’s organizing committee, following a number of studies and assessments conducted in coordination with the Chinese Tourism Authority. The unique design of Sharjah’s stand attracted thousands of visitors and drew international media attention.
The award is the fourth of its kind to be won by the SCTDA at the event, following awards for Best Stand Design and Most Outstanding Booth over the last three years.
Commenting on the occasion, Mohamed Ali Al Noman, Director General of the SCTDA, said: “This award recognizes the SCTDA’s outstanding efforts to promote the emirate of Sharjah across a variety of local, regional and international domains. It is a mark of success for the emirate’s new identity, which has performed superbly on a local, regional and international level.
“This world class award marks a new milestone in our series of achievements and will serve as added motivation for us to continue our tireless efforts to maintain and boost Sharjah’s prominent spot on the world’s tourism map. It is our consistent commitment to maintain this momentum, under the guidance of H.H. Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah,” he continued.
The Authority’s Director General explained that the SCTDA’s presence at Asia’s leading tourism event forms part of its efforts to further strengthen Sharjah’s already established position on the world tourism map. It also helps meet the requirements of tourism development in the emirate, increases the flow of tourists into the emirate, and benefits from the huge potential of the Chinese market, which has over 20 million tourists a year – a figure that is projected to reach 100 million by 2020.
“The SCTDA seeks to make its presence at BITE a focal point in order to attract Chinese tourists to Sharjah, and is extremely optimistic of the benefit of the openness and dynamism of Chinese trade and tourism markets on the tremendous potential increase in the tourist inflow to Sharjah. This is in line with the development witnessed in the emirate’s tourism sector and the growth aspirations for the next five years,” he added.
“This is the second award for Sharjah this year, the first being the award for �Best Middle Eastern Exhibitor’, which we received at ITB 2010 – the world’s largest tourism event – earlier this year,” Al Noman said.
He stated that the SCTDA’s participation in major international exhibitions plays a significant role in increasing tourist influx into the emirate, thanks to the Authority’s efforts to highlight the emirate’s tourist attractions to international markets.
“Asian tourists accounted for 15 percent of the total number of visitors to the emirate in 2009,” he said.
On the sidelines of its participation in the Beijing International Tourism Expo, the SCTDA also participated in Expo 2010 Shanghai, the largest event of its kind in the world, which saw the participation of more than 240 countries and international organizations.