The seventh version of the Kingdom’s premier food and hospitality trade event is returning to Jeddah from April 21 to 23, with a range of features, CPD seminars as networking opportunities with industry peers.
The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia 2019 at the Jeddah Center for Forums and Events will serve as a platform to highlight the latest innovations in the food industry and share local and international trends and insights.
Gary Williams, the show’s event director, said: “With tourists’ arrivals in the Kingdom growing year-on-year, hoteliers and restaurateurs understand the need to keep investing and researching to keep up with the increased levels of competition and to better serve their clients.”
Travel bookings in the Kingdom are considered the largest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) — worth more than $25 billion each year. The hospitality industry’s growth shows no sign of slowing, with 64,000 hotel rooms and 187 hotel projects forecast to be added to current supply.
Organizers of the show claim the event provides a 360-degree view of the hospitality industry, with hundreds of global brands from around the world showcasing products across interiors, lighting and design, fitness, technology and security, hygiene, kitchen and laundry equipment, HORECA (hotels, restaurants and catering), F&B (food and beverages) and more.
Exhibitors from China, Egypt, Oman, Pakistan, Turkey, Portugal, India, France, the UAE, the US, Slovenia and more will be participating in this year’s show.
The event is visited by more than 6,500 sector professionals — from GMs, owners and operators, through to procurement managers, designers and architects, housekeepers, executive chefs, revenue managers and engineers working in the hospitality industry.
Following new legislation and government reforms that have made the Kingdom more accessible than ever, Saudi Arabia represents the largest development opportunities in the hospitality industry in the Middle East.
The tourism sector has been earmarked by the government as a key driver for growth in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic diversification strategy, with major initiatives to stimulate the travel and tourism industry.
The event will also include various live kitchens being set up across the show floor with a competitive spirit between rival hotel teams. The Inter-Hotel Culinary Competition will return for a third edition, with more hotels battling against each other by putting forward their top chefs to showcase creative cooking styles and share culinary expertise in a live kitchen environment.
Chefs from Radisson Blu, Somewhere Hotel, Movenpick, Oberoi, Assila, Makarem Ajyad, Intercontinental, Four Seasons, Hyatt, Le Meridien Towers Makkah and more will be competing against each other. Judges include Chef Thomas Gugler, Chef Yasser Jad and more.
