Fujairah plans hotels, flights to other emirates

Fujairah wants to expand its inbound tourist numbers and plans to go about it in an aggressive manner. Within the next two years, the emirate will have at least three new five-star properties apart from several budget hotels as tourist numbers are expected to almost double in two years.

The emirate has also proposed plans to start commercial flights between Fujairah and other emirates to facilitate international tourists.

Currently the annual hotel room occupancy is at about one million per year. “We plan to increase it to two million by the end of 2017,” said Saeed Al Samahi, Director General, Fujairah Tourism and Antiquities Authority
Speaking to Emirates 24/7 on the sidelines of Arabian Travel market (ATM) 2015, Samahi said majority of the tourists to Fujairah currently come from within the UAE.

“Most of our visitors - about 30 per cent - are the local population. We only have a record of hotel room bookings. But if you consider day visitors, the numbers would further increase by about 10 per cent,” he said.

Most of the day tourists come from other emirates nearby and even from Oman.

“We expect the numbers to go up further during the coming months.  The new highway that easily connects Sharjah to Fujairah has still not gained traction. Most people still continue to use the old route which is more scenic,” he says.

According to him, the other new highway being planned between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah would provide a significant boost to tourists from the emirate.
A new highway linking Abu Dhabi with Fujairah has been proposed with speed allowed up to 200kmph.

Commenting on connectivity he said, “The Fujairah airport is currently used for cargo flights and charter flights. We have plans to open it up to passenger traffic at least in a limited way. We plan to start commercial flights to other emirates to start with,” he said. However no timeframe has been set up for the same.

He said connected flights to other airports in the country will benefit international tourists. “Right now the next big traffic that we receive is from the Europe followed by tourists from Russia and the CIS,” he said.

The opening of new bunker facilities is also expected to drive traffic into the emirate. Fuel storage facilities in Fujairah are expected to go up by almost 75 per cent during the next five years.


 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.