The latest from around the region
Bringing together hospitality’s key players, Barcelona hosted the first Mediterranean Hotels Forum during the last week of November, as part of the 9th Mediterranean Week of Economic Leaders. Organized by the Association of the Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASCAME), presidents of associations and hotel chains of the northern and southern countries of the Mediterranean discussed the current status quo as well as future prospects for development and growth within the sector, notably the rise in rural tourism and green hotels.
Speaking at the conference, honorary chairman of International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IHRA), Ghassan Aidi, said that hoteliers are learning to adapt in spite of the financial crisis gripping parts of the world. “People always need to travel and people will continue to travel. Business travelers will not stop pouring into our hotels. The only difference is that travelers today make different choices. Instead of staying in a five-star hotel, they will go to four-star hotels and instead of staying two weeks, they will stay 10 days.”
Aidi continued by saying that independent properties must withstand competition from international hotel chains drawing on the merger between Marriott and Starwood to create the world’s largest hotel company with 5,500 hotels and more than one million rooms.
Representing Lebanon at the forum, Joumana Dammous-salamé, managing director of Hospitality Services sarl, addressed the challenges facing hotels in Lebanon in light of regional turbulence and the exciting public and private sector initiatives aimed at boosting tourist numbers. “Even against the current sociopolitical backdrop, 150 new licenses were granted to tourist enterprises and hotels last year,” said Salamé. “The commitment shown by Lebanon’s Ministry of Tourism to really highlight the positive aspects to Lebanon’s tourism has been phenomenal. From the Live Love Lebanon campaign to the Phoenician Roads project, Lebanon is now catering to a new breed of traveler.”
Considered the most significant tourist destination accounting for a third of the world’s tourism revenues, the Mediterranean is set to receive a staggering 420 million non-resident tourists by 2020.
In parallel, the Mediterranean Hotels & Restaurants Association held its first general assembly at the conference to discuss various issues concerning the importance of training and education of hospitality employees as well as the development of tourism in this region and the future relation with international organizations.
Elected by the European board members, the association’s first president, Dr. Ghassan Aidi declared, “We are proud to represent a region that includes 24 countries, 100,000 hotels and a million restaurants serving 700,000,000 consumers.”