A large increase in footfall combined with the signing of strategic new partnerships between industry players have marked a successful conclusion to the 2017 edition of Hospitality Qatar, the country's premier International Hospitality and Horeca Trade Show at Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre.
“The huge increase in visitors and participants at this year's show has also reaffirmed Hospitality Qatar's position as a strategic platform for business and networking opportunities for the hospitality and Hotel/Restaurant/Café (Horeca) industry in the Middle East,” organisers said in a statement.
The three-day event saw the participation of more than 153 local, regional and international Horeca companies and hospitality professionals, including 46 hotels and restaurants and 202 chefs who took part in the 25 competitions.
The trade show highlighted three zones–Food & Beverage, Supply & Design and Hotel & Franchise Investment. All three helped paved the way for an interactive Business-to-Business (B2B) matchmaking platform that aims to link all participants wishing to explore potential partnership and growth opportunities. During this edition, Hospitality Qatar introduced ‘Food Qatar’, a new dedicated platform for the food sector focused on providing a meeting point for local, regional and international suppliers and manufacturers of food products and establish links with buyers in Qatar’s market.
Salon Culinaire also took place on the sidelines of the show, it involved a large number of widely-celebrated international chefs. Live cooking of signature dishes, creative presentations of celebration and wedding cakes, Arabic mezza and Qatari festive foods, and barista and bartender mocktail competitions were also among the activities that took place during the three days, and culminated by an awarding ceremony.
Karim Raffoul, project manager, IFP Qatar, concluded by saying: “As the ideal meeting point for suppliers and buyers in the Horeca industry, we feel from the responses and initial business results that stakeholders have truly found the most suitable avenue to further develop business networks and expansion activities. We are positive that next year will be bigger and brighter and look to present even more creative ways to facilitate sector engagement."
Gulf Times
November 15
