Bilateral cooperation between Sharjah and North Macedonia has numerous potential opportunities to expand in several fields, including the tourism sector, speakers at a business meeting said.
Both countries possess competitive and distinct features as prominent tourist destinations, with Sharjah’s development tourism model representing a novel and innovative approach to establishing tourist strategies with long-term development implications, highlighted the speakers at the meeting organised by the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) with a visiting economic delegation from North Macedonia.
Top officials of the Embassy of the Republic of North Macedonia in the UAE and the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA), besides a group of leading businessmen and tourism sector representatives also attended the meeting.
“The tourism sector’s contribution to the emirate’s economy constitutes 15 percent of its output, and the emirate is eager to develop creative initiatives that promote tourism services and products,” said Waleed Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, second vice-president, SCCI.
Bukhatir said as the tourism sector continued to recover following the Covid-19 pandemic, with global tourism also recovering and accelerating its growth trajectories, the time was ripe for establishing tourist strategies with long-term development implications.
Abdul Qadir Mimidi, Ambassador of the Republic of North Macedonia to the UAE, highlighted his country’s ambition of expanding ties with the emirate of Sharjah in all areas, particularly tourism, owing to the fact that both nations are known for their distinct and diverse tourist attractions.
Mimidi also emphasised the significance of such a meeting in exploring the emirate’s tourism features and strengthening cooperative relations.
“The strategy of the Republic of North Macedonia is to attract tourists from the Arab Gulf countries, with a target of 2.6 million visitors this year and 3.2 million visitors in 2023,” Mimidi revealed.
Ahmed Rashid bin Sheikh, head of the European market division at SCTDA, said Sharjah has witnessed a tremendous transition in the tourism sector in the last few years, with many of the leading environmental, heritage, and investment tourism projects being established.
Sharjah has also developed the hotel sector, with over 100 hotel facilities, more than 10,000 rooms, and a variety of hotel categories, he said, adding that as a result, hotel occupancy reached more than AED120 million in the first quarter of this year.
Sharjah’s international airport will be expanded in 2024 to accommodate more than 20 million passengers from the 8 million currently, he said.
Besides Bukhatir and Mimidhi, the meeting was also attended by Khalid Jasem Al Midfa, Chairman of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA), and Ambassador Igor Popov, Director of the Directorate of Economic and Public Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Co-chair of the UAE-Macedonia Joint Task Force on Trade and Investment.
Follow us on
