Qatar to invest $40bn in hospitality sector

With more than $40bn worth of investments in the next 15 years, Qatar’s hospitality industry is poised to experience strong growth even as construction of new hotels and additional rooms are in the pipeline.“Qatar’s investment in the hospitality sector is clearly visible with nearly 105 upcoming hotels and approximately 21,000 rooms at various stages of construction," IFP Qatar general manager George Ayache said on Tuesday.Qatar’s hotels, restaurants, and cafes (Horeca) sector is expanding at “such as rapid rate,” he explained during the official launch of ‘Hospitality Qatar 2016.’Ayache said the second instalment of the annual event, organised by IFP Qatar and licensed by the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), is taking place from October 18 to 20 at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre (DECC).Held under the patronage of HE the Minister of Economy and Commerce (MEC), the exhibition will host five national pavilions and welcome more than 7,000 local and international visitors, as well as 132 exhibitors from Qatar, Austria, Bahrain, China, Germany, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Turkey.“The event will provide a progressive platform for hospitality, hotels, restaurants, and cafes operators to showcase their latest products and build new business opportunities,” Ayache pointed out.With the help of online platform developer B2B2GO, Ayache said Hospitality Qatar will automatically match buyers with participating suppliers using the B2B online platform, which will be launched during the event.The platform, he explained, will feature buyers, decision-makers, hoteliers, chefs, procurement professionals, and marketing directors, and allow meetings with suppliers to be scheduled during the show.Several workshops are also slated during the exhibition and will be facilitated by some of the region’s top experts. The topics to be discussed include Qatar’s hotel and tourism market overview, hospitality’s role in achieving Qatar National Vision 2030, and grading and classification systems in hospitality, among others, Ayache said.He said Hospitality Qatar’s concurrent event, ‘Salon Culinaire’, will include 17 categories such as fruit and ice curving, live cooking, mocktail competition, chocolate showpiece, novelty cake, five-course set menu, and many others. International and regional juries will supervise the competition in co-ordination with Qatar Culinary Professionals (QCP) and World Association of Chefs Societies. More than 250 chefs from various star hotels and restaurants have already confirmed their participation, Ayache added.Speaking to Gulf Times on the sidelines of the event, QCP chairman chef Baran Yucel said Hospitality Qatar will bring in seven chefs from France with Michelin Star background, and will showcase their skills and will fuse different food elements, including Qatari cuisine.“While we all have the same goal of improving the hospitality and culinary platform in Qatar, QCP is committed solely to promote the chef profession, recognition of cooking talents, and polishing food supplies to improve product quality and promote local culinary traditions,” he said.