Bahrain Announces its first International Hospitality Expo for 2018

With the Kingdom’s Government support and the chairmanship of his Royal Highness Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa Prime Minister, Bahrain’s most anticipated Hospitality & Restaurant Expo BHR Expo 2018 is being held under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Isa Bin Ali Al Khalifa. Culinaire & Beyond, Bahrain’s very own home-grown Hospitality & Restaurant experts announced a landmark initiative to boost creativity and growth in the Hospitality & Restaurant sectors in Bahrain. The purpose of the International Exhibition is to create an ecosystem within the Kingdom of Bahrain for visitors, investors and business owners to meet, create lucrative linkages and partner for mutually beneficial goals. 

Their initiative is an extension of the first initiative taken by them in May this year under the patronage of Shaikh Khaled Bin Humood Al Khalifa C.E.O. Bahrain Tourism & Exhibitions Center to add value to two sectors that require thought, time, and attention to be able to prosper.

The Press Conference was inaugurated by CEO Culinaire & Beyond Leena Ahmed al Mannai who shared a detailed review of BHRExpo2018. The four-day Expo will begin with a Culinary tour organized by the official tour partners @Bahrain for International exhibitors and visitors to truly understand the flavors, culture and creativity of Bahrain.

The Forum will take place on the 22^nd of March which will also mark the beginning of the three-day International exhibition. Great care has been taken in crafting a memorable experience for exhibitors and visitors, and the Exhibition also entails the first ever Regional Culinary competition managed  in partnership with a world-renowned food expert Chef Rosario Scarpato; CEO of The I Factor, a Hong Kong based company specialized in events design and management, integrated communication and high quality multimedia productions. Its divisions are specialized in gastronomy, food and beverage, hospitality and tourism.

Labour Fund Tamkeen took this opportunity to announce their strategic partnership for the BHR Expo 2018.
Dr Ebrahim Mohammed Janahi Chief executive of Tamkeen stated: " Tamkeen had always maintained an encouraging attitude towards startups and SME’s throughout the past decade by launching and supporting many initiatives to meet industry's specific needs."

He added: "Restaurant & Hospitality sectors in the Kingdom of Bahrain are very vital and promising. We are keen to see our impact on the growth of these sectors and we will continue supporting it through our wide range of support including financial and training solutions in addition to grants and advisory services"

Yousef Al Khan Director of Marketing & Tourism Promotions at Bahrain Tourism & Exhibitions Authority spoke about the impact of a developed Leisure, business friendly Gastronomic region and encouraged the initiative due to its positive influence on tourism. He spoke of maintaining optimum standards of services and products within these industries to ensure tourists as well as residents received a consistent, extraordinary experience.

Furthermore, he spoke highly of Legislation in Bahrain and praised Sijilat, the user friendly online portal for registration of new businesses due to their competitive lead times to answer to queries and transparency of application. He was happy to share that all food trucks in Bahrain were licensed and was optimistic about the future of the Hospitality & Restaurant sectors of Bahrain.

Mr. Mubarak Al-Moosa Facilitation Director BCCI mentioned that the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry were pleased to extend their support to Culinaire & Beyond for holding Bahrain Hospitality & Restaurants EXPO 2018.  One of the main objectives of BCCI is to develop the role of the private sector and increase its contribution to economic development and BCCI were certain that such initiatives would help catalyze the economic development of the Hospitality & Restaurant Sectors.

The hospitality and restaurants sector, though incomparable to the oil and gas or the petrochemical sectors in Bahrain, serves as one of the promising sector that is expected to witness significant growth and will contribute to the national economy, and thus aid the diversification strategy followed by the wise government.

Mubarak Al-Moosa ended by saying that he strongly encouraged members of the business community to take part in the Bahrain Hospitality & Restaurant Expo and contribute to its success. The Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry supports all endeavors that aim to promote the business environment of Bahrain and invigorate business activities. 

Culinaire & Beyond also introduced on this occasion their chosen partners for the first Regional Culinary Competition. The I Factor is based in Hong Kong and has an office in Dubai that creates enchanted culinary events. They have consulted 300 restaurants and trained 200 Michelin Star chefs and elaborated that they were keen on leveraging their experience and putting Bahrain on the map of important culinary competitions, with its own identity, as well as in collaborating with important international institutions to benchmark Bahraini talent as unique, authentic and evolutionary. 

Rosario further suggested that the culinary competition would attract emerging players of the hospitality industry (chefs in free standing and hotel restaurants) in the GCC area and the BHRExpo 2018 would be a fantastic opportunity to host an event of this stature in the Kingdom of Bahrain. 

Rosario Scarpato CEO of The I Factor ended by stating that he was humbled to become a part of Bahrain’s most anticipated Hospitality & Restaurant Expo and shared his detailed vision for the Expo.