The annual hospitality trade show, this year titled Andaman Hotelier 2015, will be held at Limelight Avenue in Phuket Town on September 17-19. The event is expected attract more than 30,000 visitors.
Speaking at a press conference at Limelight Avenue to announce the event on Wednesday (August 19), Governor Nisit Jansomwong said, “Tourism is the like a main artery, it helps Phuket grow and maintain stability, and we need to keep this industry growing by providing the quality employees who constantly seek new ideas and knowledge to improve their skills.
“The key to being a top-notch tourist destination is to have the best-quality service industry workers. Beside having beautiful places to visit and stay, Phuket must offer the best staff to provide the best service to make tourists remember us and want to return.”
To that end, Phuket City Municipality and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Phuket office have joined forces to promote the culinary delights of Phuket’s Baba-Nyonya ethnic Chinese community, also called Peranakan or “Straits Chinese”.
“We fully support this event and Phuket City Municipality will exhibit local delicacies known as ‘Baba’ as a highlight for the food contest activity,” said Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwansupapana.
“Phuket wants to be a part of the Unesco Creative Cities Network, so this year we want Phuket to become known for its outstanding food and this will be the best opportunity for hoteliers to learn about Baba cuisine and maybe apply these techniques and ingredients to their modern culinary creations to serve to tourists.”
Phuket TAT Director Anoma Wongyai revealed that renowned Thai chef Chumpol Jangprai of the Iron Chef television series fame will conduct an “Innovative Cuisine” workshop in conjunction with the Phuket and Andaman Chefs’ Association.
“The workshop will create a new signature dish for Phuket made from local ingredients, and people from around the world will have to come here to taste this brand-new dish,” said Ms Anoma.
“I hope that not only we will get a signature dish for Phuket, but also that Unesco will consider naming Phuket among the Creative Cities Network.”
If this is achieved, Phuket will become the first city in Thailand to have been accredited to Unesco’s Creative Cities Network (UCCN), which was created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.
“The 69 cities which currently make up this network work together towards a common objective: placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level,” explains the UCCN website. (See here.)
Dr Krisada Tansakul, president of the Thai Hotels Association’s Phuket-based Southern Thailand Chapter, noted that the Andaman Hotelier expo was the ideal event for such a venture.
“Andaman Hotelier is the best and biggest exhibition where you will find an array of knowledge and skills from the hotel and tourism industries of the Andaman coast on display,” he said.
“This year we have eight representative organisations of major professions coming together to help organize the fun fair for the event.”
The key purpose of the event is to develop the skills and quality of employees, to adapt and change according to the needs of clients and to discover innovative ways in the service industry to improve service quality.
Among the events scheduled for the expo are separate contests for modern Thai, European and Baba cuisine as well as bartender and barista contests.
In addition to the Innovative Cuisine workshop by Iron Chef Chumpol, beverage guru Din Hussen from Singapore will host his own workshop on Creative Beverages.
More than 120 booths at the show will display unique and quality products at discount prices, with special prizes on offer.
The expo will also host seminars on new marketing trends and the future of hotel marketing as well as a Lean Supply Chain exhibition offering tips and idea on investment and starting new businesses in the industry.
For more information email info@andamanhotelier.com or visit AndamanHotelier.com or the event’s Facebook page.
Class Act Media is a proud sponsor of this event.