Sharjah is the cultural hub. In 1998 Sharjah was awarded the capital of Arab culture by UNESCO. {In} 2019 we are also announced the book capital of the world. We had in 2017 more than 3000 events in Sharjah, ranging from big events, anchor events, to mid-size and small events. The Sharjah International Book Fair attracted more than 2.2m visitors in 2017. Talking about the Sharjah Light Festival which in 2018 in February attracted more than 1m visitors. Talking about the Formula One Grand Prix taking place in Sharjah. Every year we want to have other activities throughout the year. We are adding the Sharjah Summer Festival. We are planning to add another festival or activity by the end of the year to cater to different audiences to attract people from within the UAE and neighbouring countries like Oman, Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries. We see that at certain periods of time during the year we can still add to our calendar a few areas that can complement our tourism business. We have the heritage, we have the art, we have archaeology. We look at the heritage scene in Sharjah; for more than 40 years it has been very well preserved and that's why today there is so much to showcase. That's why the heart of the Sharjah area is now being registered as a World Heritage site in UNESCO and we are very proud to have a very well-preserved identity in Sharjah.
Every emirate has a completely different USP and this is very interesting looking at the size of the United Arab Emirates. In some other countries you need to fly to see these different products. Here we have them within a two- to three-hour drive and the product of each and the identity of each destination is different. Sharjah has almost nine protected areas ranging from wildlife to different species, birds, animals, breeding centres. All the projects that we see now that are taking place and are happening in the next three years are very unique. We're opening up some areas on the east coast for enthusiasts who would want to experience the mangroves, kayaking, different sports, mountain bikes, other things that you don't really have everywhere else in the world.
Infrastructural development plays a vital role in the progress and development of a destination. Sharjah International Airport, which has a capacity of almost 10m passengers will be brought to 25m passengers within the next five years with the new expansion plan. We have the road network as well connecting Sharjah on the west coast to the east coast. We have three cities on the east coast, Khorfakkan, Dibba Al Hosn and Kalba, and the connection between Khorfakkan and Sharjah is a huge project which will save at least a 40-minute drive. This will be a very important project that will help boost the economy and the tourism sector on the east coast. By the end of 2017 we recorded almost 10,000 hotel rooms in terms of inventory of the whole emirate of Sharjah. We have another 5000+ rooms coming by 2021. The interesting and important part is that we have a number of international hotel operators that are interested in Sharjah, and this is very important to a destination. We have also niche products, like the heritage hotel, the mangroves hotel on the east coast. These areas and products are catered to a different market. People who are categorised as experiential travellers, who are looking for something unique, who are looking for something very different from what they would see anywhere else.
Sharjah is not an emerging destination: it is a well-established destination. Our 10m visitors by 2021 is a target that is being achieved. We are working very closely with our main partners and stakeholders from the government and the private sector who all play an equally vital role in creating and managing the perception of the destination. What we see now is many destinations around the world are competing to become the most well-known destination in one area or the other. And it is very important that we see different destinations creating their own unique selling point. We attract different kinds of visitors from different markets at different times, and what we want to make sure is that we create an experience for our visitors that is unforgettable. Culture is about culture, it's about family tourism, it's about education, edutainment, heritage, archaeology, art. This is what Sharjah is focusing on and people who come to Sharjah want to get that kind of an experience, a memory that can last forever, a memory that they take from seeing something really different, something unique, something very different from what they would see anywhere else in the world.
