Six thousand graduates in the hospitality sector every year yet the labor market cries for more

The Minister of Tourism, Michel Pharaon, inaugurated yesterday the 6th edition of Beirut Cooking Festival and the 3rd edition of Salon du Chocolat, at the Beirut International Exhibition Center, Biel, with the participation of 60 chefs and culinary specialists, 100 establishments and individual experts in food and beverages, 70 business owners and chocolate factories. On the subject of food and hospitality industry, Al Akhbar newspaper spoke to the director of the state-run Hotel Management Institute of Dekwaneh, Antoine Hajj, who stressed that food is one product which remained very popular, notwithstanding the security and economic situation in the country. “It is, in fact, the “largest traded commodity today” he added. Lebanon is dubbed one of the best countries in the world for food, as it boasts a significant number of authentic dishes from around the world and a considerable number of foreign chefs, Hajj proudly noted. He disclosed to Al Akhbar the presence of some 42 state-run hotelier schools beside a number of colleges and universities that run special programs in hotel management, pointing to nearly six thousand graduates in similar disciplines every year. In conclusion, Hajj maintained that the food and hotelier sector employs an extensive proportion of the workforce, and that the local labor market is able to absorb more graduates. In a related vein, Al Akhbar mentioned that the occupancy of Beirut’s 4 and 5 star hotels has reached nearly 70% last September, 2016, posting the highest record since 45 months, (March 2012), according to Ernst & Young hotel index.

(Al Akhbar, Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, November 15 and 18, 2016)

 

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Cooking festival and salon du chocolat in BIEL from 17 to 19 November