Servicing land, air and sea: ITCA Dubai

In recent years, international airlines and cruise liners have begun outsourcing several other services to professional organisations.

These include product development, waste management, equipment planning, resource and budget management, onboard retailing, water-tight compliance and security systems. It makes good commercial sense for everyone involved; more business opportunities for the suppliers and better value-added product and service for the buyers and consumers. At ITCA Dubai, the aim is to bring these two sets of organisations together - those that seek professional outsourced services and those that can readily provide them. ITCA Dubai 2007 is the region's only specialised travel catering event. It places global players in touch with the key markets of the Middle East, Africa and the Indian Subcontinent.

Looking at the concept of in-flight catering it lends itself to staggering dimensions, and it is the stuff of many urban myths and marvels. Emirates Airlines recently created global aviation history by ordering 143 aircraft worth Dhs127bn. A record-breaking order with huge impact for in-flight catering as a whole.

In random examples, KLM's 747 flight from Amsterdam to Australia is said to carry an average of just a little over 1,000 kilograms of food in comparison to some 1,324 litres of drink including mineral water, spirits and other beverages. British Airways passengers consume 40.5 tonnes of chicken, 6 tonnes of caviar, 22 tonnes of smoked salmon and 557,507 boxes of chocolate every year. Virgin Atlantic admits that catering is its third biggest cost after fuel and engineering-maintenance.

An in-flight meal and accompaniments served in business class costs an airline about $50 in raw materials. To a passenger, an in-flight meal may be about fresh and hot food, but to an airline it is much more than that. The quality of the food has to be high, the menus have to be as contemporary as they are nutritious, the packaging has to be modern, and the presentation has to be simultaneously attractive, logical, and practical to use.

In in-flight catering, there is unparalleled emphasis on fresh food that is both easy to prepare and delicious to taste, but the end results have a well deserved and pleasing aftertaste. Today, in-flight catering is pegged as a staggering $18bn worldwide industry that employs up to 200,000 people.

These trends of outsourcing in-flight and cruise catering, and of numerous other services is aptly represented by ITCA Dubai, where visitors will be able to source suppliers from 23 countries including new exhibitor participation from Bahrain, Belgium, Oman, Syria and Taiwan.

In 2005, with the official formation of ITCA, this was opened up to include the rail and shipping industries as well, and membership was expanded to include three categories - caterers, suppliers of products and equipment, operators of air, sea and rail vehicles.

Reaching out to the region
A great deal goes into making travel special for passengers, and in the foreground of the region's thriving aviation industry and its mushrooming cruise industry. ITCA Dubai is an ideal forum for suppliers from all over the world to present their credentials to the region.

The event will also serve as a forum to exhibit their service offerings - be it china, silverware, stemware, linen, cabin comfort items, disposable plastics and paper products - or their services as diverse as on-board and with cruise catering equipment, entertainment, electronics, communications, hospitality, and facility management.

"The tremendous increase in travel traffic in the Middle East drove a lot of travel caterers to run at maximum output capacity. As a result, outsourcing production and extending capacity off site is becoming more acceptable every day. However, when outsourcing, companies are looking for a hassle free solution", says Jan Bijsterbosch, Senior Vice President, Emirates Flight Catering Foodpoint and Linencraft, based in Dubai.

"ITCA Dubai has become a forum for the regional and global travel catering professionals, where we can all meet and catch up on the industry's latest innovations. We look forward to introducing ourselves and our services to all local and regional players, and to build partnerships that are based on trust, and in our case, on taste," he adds.

Other confirmed exhibitors includes Gate Gourmet from Switzerland, Hobart and Gut Springenheide from Germany, Servair from France, Bestpartner World Wide Food Supply and Driessen Aerospace Group from the Netherlands, Elro-Werke and Chatsford. Josco In-flight from Hong Kong, Creation Food Company from Taiwan, Chef Middle East and City Chef Catering from the UAE and John Horsfall's and Watermark Group from the UK.

The Middle East Market Growth
• In the UAE, Dhs132bn (Dirham) investments by the Dubai aviation sector that experienced a 14.4% growth rate in passenger traffic and 10.9% rise in cargo volume.

• Dubai is expected to accommodate at least 50 cruise ships at its terminal during the cruise tourism's winter season running until April 2007.

• 2007-2008 cruise season will see the port of Dubai handle 200,000 passenger movements, mostly from Europe and the US.

• UAE is the largest importer in the Middle East accounting for 25% of imports, and the second largest exporter, according to studies. Dubai's non-oil trade accounted for 80% of the UAE's total non-oil trade in 2006.

• $600m development project on the new main Abu Dhabi International Airport that includes: Second Runway; Cargo Terminal Expansion; Region's first Rapid Transit Shuttle Link between terminals

• "Passengers to Saudi Arabia were expected to rise by up to 15% a year with the number of Muslim pilgrims rising to 20 million in 10 years from 3.5 million," said Mr Khalid Al Mulhim, director-general of Saudi Arabian Airlines.

• Egypt succeeded in attracting 9.1 million visitors in 2006, a 5.5% increase over the 8.7 million visitors of the previous year, announced Minister of Tourism Zoheir Garranah. These are strong results given that the global tourism growth rate is 4.5% according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

• The Egyptian Tourism Authority confirms there are plans to boost tourist numbers to 16 million by 2014. The first six months in 2006 has shown a 12% increase in tourist numbers from the same period last year.

The ITCA Dubai 2007 exhibition will be held from 11-13 December 2007 and will be sponsored by Meat and Livestock Australia. ITCA Dubai 2007 is organised by the Dubai World Trade Centre. The exhibition is held alongside the ITCA Dubai 2007 conference (12-13 December 2007) which is organised by ITCA. The event is supported by Emirates Airline.