The Emirate of Sharjah announces its participation in EMITT 2007

Under a targeted strategy to focus on the international tourism sector and in its first international tourism tour for this year, the Emirate of Sharjah will participate for the fourth consecutive time in the East Mediterranean International Travel & Tourism Exhibition (EMITT 2007), which will be held in Istanbul from 15-18 February 2007. This year's expo will feature 2000 exhibitors from 55 countries and the participation of tourism ministries from more than 50 countries.

Sharjah's participation in the activities of the 11th round of EMITT, which is being held with the support of the Turkey tourism authority and Istanbul Municipality, (in addition to more than 36 tourism authorities and organizations in Turkey) comes following the success of its involvement in last year's exhibition that was held in February. Consequential from Sharjah's involvement was the large number of Turkish tourists visiting the emirate.

Director General of Sharjah Commerce & Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA), H.E Mohamed A. Al Noman, will head the Sharjah delegation to EMITT 2007, in addition to other senior representatives from SCTDA, Sharjah International Airport Authority and Air Arabia.

Speaking of the participation in EMITT 2007, H.E. Mohamed A. Al Noman said: "No doubt that the participation of the Emirate of Sharjah in the activities of this important international tourism exhibition reflects the success of our past involvement and the continuing success that the emirate has achieved through different international gatherings. All of this is part of the aim of SCTDA to achieve a strong presence for the Emirate of Sharjah on the world map."

He added. "At a time statistics shows that most Turkish tourists prefer heritage tourism and shopping, SCTDA saw it as an essential task to take part in this exhibition where we can promote our emirate as a unique destination for the family to learn about heritage, history and culture. It is these things that will enhance the position of the Emirate of Sharjah on the world map and support our aims to attract more Turkish tourists to the Emirates."

Sharjah's participation in EMITT is a result of the success that the exhibition has garnered since 1997, in addition to its great role in uniting the view points of the people working in the tourism sector worldwide. With last year's exhibition attracting 150,000 visitors and an increase in the number of exhibitors to 1200, spanning from 40 different countries world wide, this year will be even larger and cover 5 halls on an area of 30 thousand square feet. More than 200 thousand visitors are expected and with such great numbers the Emirate of Sharjah is set to substantially gain from Turkey's trade and tourism market.

The participation of Air Arabia at this high-profile, pioneering event will provide an ideal opportunity to showcase the company to the Turkish commercial and travel trade markets in order to further support route growth in this market in the future. Air Arabia commenced its operations to Istanbul in May 2006, with two flights a week from Sharjah International Airport.

The trade show is an ideal platform to showcase Air Arabia's core attributes of efficiency, convenience, safety, innovation, customer satisfaction and above all, exceptional low-fares concept. It provides us with the opportunity to engage with industry leaders and develop partnerships with clients for the future.

SCTDA participation this year will be more focused on presentation, showcasing extraordinary and eye-catching designs that will display graphics of the city on a space of 60 square meters, at hall number 2, stand 2121. The Authority will hand out to all its visitors, promotional materials featuring the main attractions of Sharjah, in addition to providing accurate news information about the emirate.

The East Mediterranean International Travel & Tourism Exhibition is widely considered as an important event featuring the most famous activities of the tourism industry in the region and the best place for those working in the tourism sector with different specializations to gather in order to promote tourism amongst the countries participating.