Hospitality Qatar 2015 Unvile Features of Unique Horeca Show

Hospitality Qatar launched its 2015 edition through a press conference on Wednesday, September 30, at the Intercontinental Doha – The City. The press conference, which detailed the program and activities of the show, featured several speakers, including several sponsors of the show: Mr. Khalid Yousef, representing Elegancia Hospitality Group LLC, Gold Sponsor; Mr. Pascal Eggerstedt, General Manager of the Intercontinental Doha – The City, the Official Hotel; Mrs. Carla Ghaleb, Country Manager of Boecker, Salon Culinaire and Official Hygiene Sponsor; Mr. Imad Askar, Director of Operations at Askar, the Official Kitchen Sponsor; Chef Baran Yucel,  Chairman, Qatar Culinary Professionals association (QCP), Official Supporting Body (Salon Culinaire) and Mr. Sleiman Gerges, F&B Manager at Star Hospitality (Tonino Lamborghini), the Mocktail Competition Sponsor.

Hospitality Qatar 2015, the 360° Hospitality and HORECA show, is scheduled to unfold from 13 – 15 October at the Doha Exhibition Centre (DEC), under the patronage of HE Sheikh Ahmed Bin Jassim Al Thani, the Minister of Economy and Commerce. This regional event which is licensed by the Qatar Tourism Authority, will be one of the premier events to feature all aspects of the hotel and franchise market in the Gulf region and represents an excellent platform for local, regional and international HORECA suppliers to meet hospitality professionals from the entire region. It will also allow franchise brands, hotel groups, developers, banks and consultants to network and create new business opportunities with hotels and franchise investors.

This year, Hospitality Qatar will host 111 exhibitors from 12 countries: China, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Egypt, Germany, India, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Romania and Lithuania. The exhibiting companies will showcase the latest in the HORECA and hospitality industry over 5000 sqm of exhibition space. Moreover, the show will be expecting a footfall of 10,000 visitors. 

In order to enhance the experience of both exhibitors and visitors alike, Hospitality Qatar 2015 will include four features: the B2B matchmaking, the Salon Culinaire, the Mocktail competition, as well as certified workshops organized by Boecker and QCP. 

Asserting its support for the show, Mr. Khalid Yousef, Business Development Manager of Elegancia Hospitality Group LLC, Gold sponsor of the show, said:  “With more than 100 years of accumulated hotel experience in our Management Team, Elegancia has the advantage and the edge of knowing what hotels really want, the environment in which service must be provided, be sensitive to their needs and how we can make it happen. Hospitality Qatar 2015 is the only global exhibition in Qatar which features all aspects of the Hospitality Industry. This exhibition gives everyone a great chance involved in this industry to network which will create a world of opportunities. It is our honour this year to be the Gold Sponsor which gives us this great opportunity to enhance our partnership in this growing Industry”.  

The show will feature a Business-to-Business matchmaking platform which will host buyers, from top hotels to meet with the exhibitors during the show, through a set of pre-arranged meetings.

Hospitality Qatar will also feature the Salon Culinaire which is co-organized by the QCP. It will also be supervised by the World Association of Chefs Societies for Africa & the Middle East (WACS) and judged by 10 regional and international judges. Moreover, to add some zest, Hospitality Qatar 2015 will also include a Mocktail Competition, a great opportunity for HORECA bartenders to test their knowledge and to compete against each other for the tastiest mocktail in Doha.   

Mr. Imad Askar, Director of Operations at ASKAR, the Official Kitchen Sponsor of Hospitality Qatar, asserts: “With this upcoming growth in the hospitality sector, we feel even more determined to be part of it, and take pride that we have been the established pioneers of the country supporting the hospitality sector for the past four decades and years to come. We believe the chefs are the pillars of the hospitality industry and through the years of opening more high-end hotels and restaurants in the country the caliber and the bar has been raised to meet International Standards of Excellence.  The implementation of the Salon Culinaire in the past years has been a great platform for the chefs to showcase and at the same time grow their skills. Thus we believe in sponsoring the Salon Culinaire to cultivate the talents of these Doha Chefs, building friendly competitions that will get them ready for future and larger scale International Competitions.”

The fourth feature of the show will include trainings by Boecker around the following topics: Induction HACCP training and Hygiene awareness training. As for QCP, it will conduct a Workshop Seminar led by Chef Gilles Refloch and including, but not limited to: sugar cooking, flowers making, fish, dolphin & lobster technics and sugar piece making.