Saturday, November 19, 2011

Nepal to host global hospitality conference next week

Nepal is hosting 49th edition of world congress of International Hotel and Resturant Association (IH&RA) on November 28-30.
President of IH&RA Dr Ghassan Aidi landed in Kathmandu today to attend the three-day congress that will address the important global issues of climate change and hospitality, international standardisation for hotels and restaurants, the future of hospitality industry and its contribution in reducing poverty.
"During the congress contemporary topics like investment and realities will also be discussed,” informed president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Prasiddha Bahadur Pandey.
The organisers have expected around 200 international and national delegates to participate in the congress that Nepal has been trying to host since 2007. "In 2009, HAN bid for the IH&RA world congress but lost the bid securing third position but retried again in January 2010 in Lausanne, Switzerland and won the bid to organise the 49th IH&RA world congress for the year 2012,” Pandey said, adding that they have estimated a budget of Rs 11.5 million for the programme.
The event that is expected to be attended by over 50 chain hotels and restaurants across the globe will be inaugurated by President Dr Ram Baran Yadav on November 28.
International Hotel and Resturant Association — the only global business organisation representing the hospitality industries worldwide — was established in 1869 in Koblenz Germany and moved to Switzerland in 2008. It's members are national hotels and restaurants associations as well as local and international hotels chains representing around 50 brands. It also includes allied members like suppliers to the industry, educational institutes, consultants, and complementary hospitality and travel and tourism associations.
Officially recognised by UN, the IH&RA monitors and lobbies all international organisations and agencies. On behalf of the hospitality industry, the IH&RA estimated to comprise 300,000 hotels and seven million restaurants worldwide.

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