BY RAYNALD C RIVERA
DOHA: The seventh edition of the Hotel, Restaurant and Food exhibition (Diyafa 2012)-the boutique hospitality industry trade show-is set to host over 3,500 industry professionals and over 200 brands when it opens its doors from October 16 to 18 at the Doha Exhibition Centre (DEC).
“Diyafa creates an effective platform for industry professionals in the hospitality sector to gather, exchange expertise, train and develop,” said Sarah Mroueh, Diyafa Project Manager, during a press conference yesterday at Ritz-Carlton Doha.
Since its inception in 2004, Diyafa has grown by leaps and bounds offering exciting activities and diverse opportunities to industry professionals with its signature events and new this year are the Spa Concept Conference and Qatar Choice Awards.
‘’The Spa Concept is an opportunity to engage the industry, to work with the industry to define a new model of business for spas in Qatar. It is a very exciting time and I am glad to be working with IFP to make this a reality. I recommend anyone who has anything to do with the spa industry to take time off on October 18 from 3pm till 8pm to attend the one-day conference,” said renowned international spa consultant Raquel Calleja, who was specially commissioned by Diyafa organiser IFP Qatar for the conference.
The much anticipated Qatar Choice Awards will honour Qatar’s favourite service providers across all sectors of the hospitality industry through a 100 percent public voting initiative which is collaboration among Diyafa, ILoveQatar.net and Qatar Happening magazine.
Moona Whitice, Executive Director at Qatar Happening Events magazine and Abode Qatar lifestyle magazine, said the Qatar Choice Awards Gala dinner would be an entertainment-filled event to be held on October 17 at Al Gassar Resort.
Tickets for the awards night would be available at the DEC from October 13 to 16. They are priced QR550 per ticket and QR5,000 per table and for VIP tickets QR750 per ticket and QR7,000 per table.
The popular Salon Culinaire, a full – fledged culinary competition challenging all aspects of a chef’s expertise from master showpieces to live cooking signature dishes, has also expanded from 30 participants in 2009 to over 200 this year.
“Diyafa sets the standard for Qatar’s growing hospitality industry. There is no one else doing this right now. With all the new hotels and restaurants coming to Doha, Diyafa is a great platform for showcasing how cutting-edge the industry is really getting in Qatar and we believe that Salon Culinaire is important to the industry’s growth,” said Imad Askar, Director of Operations at Askar Industrial, who is supporting Salon Culinaire for the third year in a row.
Other highlights of Diyafa 2012 include training sessions in HACCP and Basic Food Hygiene by Boecker and the Red Bull Bartenders Academy.
Also present at the conference were George Ayache, General Manager, IFP Qatar; Rami Jebai, Boecker Food Safety Deputy Country Manager; Dikran Vartan, Business Development & Sales Manager at GulfCrafts; and Belal Al Kadry, Executive Assistant Manager at The Ritz-Carlton Doha. Diyafa 2012 will open its doors to industry professionals from October 16 to 18 at the Doha DEC from 3pm to 9pm daily.
The Peninsula
