Large Foreign Presence at Ethiopia’s Second Hotel Show
The second event saw an increase in the number of participants, including companies from Turkey, India and China.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The second Hotel Show Ethiopia opened last Friday May 16, 2014, for a three-day hospitality trade fair. There was a modest improvement from the first event in the number of participants and brands.
The first fair took place eight months ago, in October 2013, at the United Nations Conference Centre. This event saw 50 participating companies and 120 brands, according to the event organiser, Ozzie Business & Hospitality Group. The second trade fair, officially opened by Amin Abdulkadir, minister of Culture & Tourism, and Kumeneger Teketel, Ozzie’s managing director, at the Millennium Hall, has attracted 70 participants with 200 brands in hospitality and related sectors, including from countries such as China, India and Turkey. State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dewano Kedir, was also one of the invited guests attending the event.
Event sponsors included MNS and Ozti, both from Turkey, among several others from the same country, as well as Sealed Air and Italco, from the US.
MNS recently inaugurated a plant at Legedadi, Oromia, making beds, sofas, pillows, towels, spring mattresses and wall-to-wall carpets. The company’s brochure claims that 80pc of the product will be for export. Ozti supplies kitchenware, all imported from Turkey.
The event showcases hotels, resorts, lodges, consultancy firms and products, such as hotel equipment, hotel supplies, construction materials, interior design, food and beverages. Nergek, a local supplier of electro mechanical products, is now importing toilet materials designed for people with disabilities, including toilet seats, sinks and a shower set on which people can sit or stand.
Ozzie’s original intention was to hold the hospitality trade fair every six month “ a target that it missed by barely two months. The company wants to see African businesses in the hospitality sector at the next event, said Kumneger.
Not happy with the service of the hospitality sector in Ethiopia, Esayas Woldemariam, international service managing director at Ethiopian Airlines, said at the event that service providers needed to change their mentality and become more service-oriented. Ethiopian has many passengers that transit through Ethiopia and that have to stay at hotels, making the airline the main customer of the hotel industry.
Source: Addis Fortune
