The annual meet of Federation of Hotels and Restaurants’ Association of India will be held in Bhubaneswar from September 25 to 27. The event, which will be the golden jubilee celebration of the federation, is expected to open floodgates of opportunities for the hospitality sector as many five star hoteliers have already given hints to sign agreements with the state government. The Telegraph takes a look.

Carnival time

For the first time in Odisha, a carnival with focus on the state's heritage sites and monuments, classical dance forms such as Odissi and folk and tribal dances will be held here. The event will start at Master Canteen Square and end at Rupali Square. The federation members hope that in future the state government and local chapter of the federation would make it an annual affair, so that it would become a major tourism event in Bhubaneswar and draw crowd and travellers. The carnival this year will coincide on World Tourism Day.

Hospitality redefined

In the hospitality sector, the session will draw celebrity chefs and restaurateur across the globe to have technical sessions on fine dining and restaurant entrepreneurship. A technical session on wine testing will be held. Well-known wine and beverage consultant and curator Keith Wayne Edgar will be present. Other experts such as M.W. Liam Steevension, Sabina Corsini, Kaberi Basu Mahagama and Kunal Kaul will be the speakers at the session. The sessions on restaurants and the celebrity chefs are going to enlighten the participants.

Art and crafts

The state is known for its colourful crafts. Exhibition at the main venue of the association at May Fair Lagoon and Convention will be named Pipili Bazar with focus on the art and crafts products, which are exclusive to the land and its people. While the show at the venue will help showcase the art and crafts treasure to more than 1,000 delegates of the convention, a bigger one at the existing Ekamra Haat will be another exposure point for the delegates and the general public.

Puri connection

Tourism in Odisha would be incomplete without Puri. In the concluding evening of the event, special programmes will be 
organised. While a show of sand art by well-known artist Sudarshan Patnaik will be part of the programme on World Tourism Day, the evening will be relaxing with musical rendition by Mumbai-based Ambili Menon and also Roland Rodney brother duo. The musical saga of the three-day event will start with Sufi songs by Hyderabad-based Adil Hussaini on the 
inaugural night.

Investment sessions

The three-day convention will include sessions on investment in Bhubaneswar, new design tools and futuristic hotels and use of green technologies, social media, hospitality industry and its influence on business. Effect of the online portals on tourism and flavour of Odisha and other culinary delights of India would also be on the dining spread.

Experts talk

The hospitality of the state government and the local hotel industry, despite a scarcity of five-star hotels, was so nice that we changed the slogan of the convention from athithi debo bhava to atithi debo Bhubaneswar

Tejinder Singh Walia Federation president

The federation’s golden jubilee convention will provide a golden era of investment in the hotel industry and new players who are visiting the state to invest in a big way

Dilip Rai convention organising committee chairman

Hotel groups such as Lemontree, Jaypee, Newport and Brahmaputra have shown interest to invest in Odisha. We hope they start their projects soon once the formalities are over

Debashish Patnaik hospitality entrepreneur

Text by Bibhuti Barik