Horeca expo underscores Lebanese expertise in hospitality industry

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His remarks came at a news conference held at the Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure center during the opening of the 16th edition of Horeca 2009, Lebanon's largest hospitality and culinary exhibition.

"The success of Horeca will definitely help in boosting Lebanese exports and encourage investments because the food industry in particular is considered to be very promising in Lebanon, and is greatly able to support the Lebanese economy," said Abboud.

Horeca is an annual hospitality and food event which became a trademark for hospitality professionals in the Middle East, and a reputable place to share experiences, exhibit products, and compete in food creation.

Feras Jayyousi, manager of the hotel-ware division at Jordanian Dimlaj Industrial Group, believes Horeca is a great opportunity to study the Lebanese market. "We are considering expanding our business to Lebanon in particular because of its successful tourism industry, with the availability of well-known hotels and around 10,000 restaurants and coffee shops which would be very beneficial for our business," he said.

According to Jayyousi, Dimlaj serves new or already-established hotels and restaurants with drink-ware, dinnerware, flatware, accessories, table cloths and furniture as well helping with table setups.

Iwona Krucka, import-export manager at Polish company Bio-Active, said her firm had a wide range of healthy products including all kinds of teas as well as slimming pills, and they are looking for foreign distributors. "We are looking for a company who can cover 40 percent of foreign markets with our products and we came to Lebanon because we think that it is the gate to the Middle East," she said.

Dikran Ghazal, vice president of the business development section at Malia Group, said that Natfood operates under M.M.B. which is a member of Malia Group and added that the objective of its participation is to launch a new brand of ice cream called Gelosia.

"We are looking for franchise opportunities in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Iraq. We are interested in making our products available in restaurants and hotels," he said.

Nada Sardouk, director general of the Tourism Ministry, said Horeca was a valuable event because it combined human creativity with technical innovations. "The Lebanese economy is based primarily on the service sector of which tourism is a sub sector, and therefore we should always work on promoting and developing this industry through different vehicles like Horeca," she said.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the travel and tourism industry in Lebanon will generate $7.78 billion, or 28.1 percent of overall economic activity in Lebanon in 2009, including 439,600 jobs, or one in every 3.6 jobs, representing 28.1 percent of total employment in 2009. The industry is so strong, the WTTC said, because it has both direct and indirect impact, touching all sectors of the economy.

WTTC also forecasts the continuing growth of the country's tourism industry over the next few years, with a 9.3 percent share in 2009 and up to a 25.7 percent contribution to Lebanon's GDP by 2019.

Sardouk said elections would not affect tourism in Lebanon this summer as long as there is security stability.