First ever food and hospitality expo kicks off

The first ever food and hospitality fair began in the capital on Thursday aiming at showcasing various exotic traditional Bangladeshi foods for promoting culinary tourism to both local and international tourists.

Bangladesh International Hospitality Association (BIHA) and Wem Bangladesh Limited under the supervision of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) jointly organised the three-day fair titled ‘Food and Hospitality Bangladesh Expo 2019’ at International Convention City Bashundhara in the capital.

Around 70 exhibitors from seven countries, including India, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Italy, Spain and Bangladesh, 150 brands and 200 international delegates are taking part at the exposition.

The participants are representatives of hotels, restaurants, cafes, importers, distributors, housekeepers, spa specialists, architects and interior designers, hotel suppliers, chefs and government employees.

On the sideline of the fair, live shows such as chef challenges, workshops on food of different countries and roundtables on different topics related to food and hospitality are being organised.

Land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury inaugurated the fair as the chief guest while BPC Chairman Akhtaruz Zaman Khan Kabir, Chairperson of BIHA HM Hakim Ali, Managing Director of Unique Group of Companies M Noor Ali and chairperson of Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association Khandakar Ruhul Amin also spoke, among others.

The Land minister said variety of traditional food and unique hospitality character of people of Bangladesh are major assets to promote tourism here.

Saifuzzaman said the government has declared the tourism as a thrust sector and gave highest priority to flourish the country’s hospitality sector identifying it as a potential tool of earning foreign exchange as well as poverty alleviation.

Urging the private sector to invest more in the tourism industry, the minister said the government is ready to work as a facilitator for the private companies to bloom the country’s leisure and hospitality sector, reports BSS.

Welcoming the initiative to hold first ever food and hospitality exposition in the country, the minister suggested for organising such kind of event abroad to display the country’s traditional food in the international arena to attract more foreign tourists to visit Bangladesh.

BPC Chairman Akhtaruz Zaman Khan Kabir said the BPC always promotes the country’s traditional food in home and abroad to exploit the huge opportunity of culinary tourism in Bangladesh.