HORECA drew a veil over its activities in BIEL, achieving its set goals

The number of exhibitors who took part in the forum, whether Arabs or foreigners, recorded an unprecedented increase, despite the challenges of the prevailing situation. It is noteworthy that the pavilions' number reached 260 and more than 17 000 local and foreigner visitors attended the exhibition.

Furthermore, lectures and conferences were held in parallel with HORECA, thus rendering it a forum of discussions where influential personalities met to shed light on the tangible conditions of the hospitality and tourism sectors, as well as the available investments in this regard. Open debates marked the Forum's first day, accentuating the main relevant issues:

Growth of Tourism:
Mrs. Nada El Sarduk, Director General of the Ministry of Tourism, asserted: "We do not need any studies within the ministries. We have elaborated, years ago, several studies with regards to tourism in Lebanon which remain on the shelf", in answer to a question on the lack of figures and studies on tourism. She also highlighted the importance of figures in order to determine the real situation of the tourism sector and the level of available products and services in Lebanon through surveying the opinions of the visiting tourists, from the one hand, and defining the markets which attract tourists, and which hence should be developed, from the other. In addition, she acknowledged that the Ministry had a Department of Statistics and Studies and attempted many a time to reform the administration and promote tourism through advertisement campaigns. She said within this context: "The Ministry bases its figures regarding the influx of tourists on two sources; the General Security Office which provides accurate figures according to the questionnaires and forms filled upon the arrival of travelers at Beirut International Airport; and an analysis of the estimate of hotel reservations". However, she further explained that the figures based on hotel reservations remain imprecise, stating that "in general terms, we do observe a clear evolution in the said sector in the Arab region. Between 2000 and 2002, the number of Arab tourists increased from 300 000 to 345 000, to reach finally 420 000, whereas the number of European tourists augmented from 222 000 to 237 000, to reach 250 000".

Permits to export and challenges:
Mr. Fadi Samaha, the Director General of the Ministry of Industry, tackled the obstacles impeding exportation, specifically the permits to export. He stated that the Ministry of Industry started, four months ago, to deliver permits and grant prolonged deadlines for wide-ranging industries to settle down pending issues in all Mohafazats. He also added that to date, 150 industrial permits were granted to industrial companies. Samaha insisted that goods to be exported should respect the norms and the qualifications of the country to which the products were exported.

IDAL and the quality of products:
Samih el Barbir, Head of the Board of Directors at IDAL (Investment Development Authority in Lebanon), called to respect the norms of quality in the exportation process. He stated that IDAL signed contracts with international offices, entrusting them the supervision of the national program aiming at supporting exports, thus ensuring the good quality of the Lebanese goods and products to be exported. He also recalled that since the application of Export Plus Program which started in August 2001, exportations recorded a net boost from 279 000 tons between August 2000 and August 2002 to 320 000 tons, thus an increase of 15%, reaching 20% from August to February. It is worthy to mention, that not only the quantity did increase, but also the quality improved, thus ameliorating the excellence of Lebanese products. Barbir emphasized the importance of raising farmers and exporters' awareness to upgrade the production's quality according to international norms, albeit European, because European imports from Lebanon remain low, unlike the Arab states imports; as a matter of fact, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia imports 109 000 tons of Lebanese products. At the same time, IDAL still works on promoting investments through the "One-Stop-Shop" which allows to any investor looking for establishing an enterprise to submit an application in order to benefit from IDAL's services which perform all administrative procedures to obtain the necessary permits.

Programming the financing of tourism enterprises:
Mr. Pierre Achkar, head of the Syndicate of Hotels' Owners, considered that developing tourism enterprises was closely linked to the growth of tourism sector. He affirmed that, during the last ten years, and despite many flaws within the sectors, the situation of hotels which increased their rooms' number to reach 15 000 according to our statistics, still improved. He was asked: "Do we need additional rooms?" Achkar thus replied: "Instead of seeking new investments and transferring high-ranking properties to foreign investments, we need to re-program the financing of tourism enterprises".

Restaurants and permits:
Mr. Paul Ariss, the head of the Syndicate of Restaurants and Night Clubs Owners, called for rendering tourism an industry and shedding light on the current problems restaurants and night clubs are confronting. He also explained that Restaurants and Night Clubs' owners were unaware that they had to obtain permits issued by the Ministry of Tourism to open any restaurant or night-club. He also assured that laws in this regard are to be amended, in order to preserve public security, moral values and necessary norms.

On the commissions' level:
Mr. Marcus G. Eaton, the head of the Association of the Egyptian Cooks and member of its Board of Directors, who takes part in HORECA as a member in the jury of best cooking, insisted that exhibitors highly benefited from the Forum to promote their products and services and get acquainted with the evolution of the sector and the market. Hotel management students also took advantage from such an event, thus paving the way for their future enrolment in their field of work, acquiring necessary knowledge, exploring opportunities to exchange opinions and expertise with other students and experts.

Besides, Chef Christian For, the executive official in charge of preparing deserts at "Hotel de Paris - Monte Carlo" considers HORECA a golden opportunity which musters all active figures in the hospitality and food sector from across the globe. He also added that the Salon Culinaire unveiled much scientific and practical information in this field. He does also appreciate the Lebanese skills in preparing delicious deserts, allowing them to compete for the Cup of the Best Worldwide Deserts and obtain the Certificate of Acknowledgement. However, he suggested that the Lebanese cooks still have to upgrade their cooking techniques.

Chef Joe Barza, member of the Union of Cooks in South Africa and Germany (CHASE) affirmed that HORECA represented a unique opportunity for cooks to exchange expertise and acquire knowledge. But he noticed that Lebanese cooks still have to attend training sessions and workshops and interact with international experts to learn new cooking techniques. He commented that Lebanese cooks had an innovative spirit, but lacked practical knowledge.

On the level of exhibitors:
Mr. Freij Samurjian, head of Vresso company for Cooking and Laundry equipment, highlighted the importance of HORECA which contributed to promoting companies' contacts and partners and improve the quality of their services. He also declared that HORECA was an opportunity for companies to promote their products and meet new partners.

Besides, Najla Kassab, the assistant of Al Tanmia Marketing Director, considered HORECA an opportunity to explore new contacts with the outside world. She commented in this regard: "The Forum musters producers, partners, consumers, thus shortening distance and overcoming communication obstacles among them, in order to ensure the marketing of the products". Mrs. Kassab also explained that HORECA enabled companies, each year, to unveil their latest achievements and products.

Promotions and Competitions:
On its fourth day, HORECA held lectures aiming at promoting the sector. Its last day was loaded with promotions and competitions and witnessed the designation of the best performer in each field, albeit cooking, drinks, and touristic products. After the promotions and competitions ended, valuable prices were distributed to the winners.