‘Hotel Show Lanka’ concludes with business gathering and awards ceremony

Hotel Show Lanka 2017, the leading specialized trade show for the hotel, restaurant and food service sectors concluded its twelfth edition with a spectacular awards ceremony, highlighting significant advancement in the industry.

Invitees included exhibitors consisting of hospitality product and service providers, event sponsors, hoteliers, celebrity chefs, ministry officials, media and of course the competition winners.

The Guest of Honour at the function was Tourism Development and Christian Religious the Affairs Minister John Amaratunga.

The evening held at Water’s Edge, was a special event where the winners of the National Barista Championship and Room Stylist challenge came together to celebrate their victories in the competitions. The event aims to create networking opportunities among the business owners, and media coverage for winners. The evening featured unlimited drinks and cocktails with a well laid out spread consisting of a gourmet selection.

Organizers of the event, the Ceylon Hotel School Graduates Association (CHSGA) continuously felicitates the industry people who have made exemplary contributions to the Sri Lankan hospitality industry and this event too helped further their cause. The event partner who was also responsible for the success of the Hotel Show was CDC Events & Travels Pvt. Ltd. 

President of the CHSGA Sanjeeva Perera stressed that “Government recognizes the importance of developing a cadre of qualified and well-trained culinary professionals for the sustainable development of our tourism industry; in particular the food tourism niche.” “This year’s Hotel Show comes at a significant time in the evolution of our tourism product at a time when the Ministry of Tourism is focused on forging new paths for the tourism sector as far as product development and a re-defined marketing thrust,” he added.

Organizing team with Tourism Minister

The Minister of Tourism reaffirmed his dedicated commitment to building on relationships with all of its tourism stakeholders through meaningful collaboration, cooperation and engagement.

The Hotel Show Colombo 2017 was a huge success with over 325 stalls and over 10,000 visitors. The Bocuse d’Or Sri Lanka, National Barista Championship, Room Stylist Challenge & Industry Track Seminars which happened concurrently was a vital feature of this success. 

Winners of the Barista Championship were: 2nd runner up - Sudath Rajapakse of Café Moca, 1st runner up -  Suraj Nipunasiri of Butter Boutique and the winner was Ruwan Thajudeen of Barista Coffee Lanka. The runners up received awards and the winner received an espresso machine courtesy of Colombo Coffee Company together with ticket and accommodation to Singapore to attend the world championship.

The Room Stylist Challenge winners who were felicitated were; 2nd Runner up S. Claiman of Trinco Blue, 1st runner up Chamil Amarasinghe of Cinnamon Grand, Colombo and  winner was W. D. R. Wijethunga of Blue Waters, Wadduwa, who received their prizes courtesy of Asian Fabrics and Suyamas International. Stall winners were: Most Innovative Stall - World Outdoor, Thematic Stall – M. C. Abdul Rahims & Bros, and Best Stall – Suyamas International / King Coil. 

An honorary award was presented to the architect of the Hotel Show Colombo Trevine Gomez, chairman of the Organizing Committee. 

Event Diamond Sponsor was Suyamas International Pvt. Ltd./ King Coil and Gold sponsors were Pragmatic International, NITMO, Abdul Rahims & Sperrys and Lankaloha Hardware Ltd.