KUALA LUMPUR: The Food & Hotel Malaysia (FHM) 2017, which begins today, expects to generate RM650 million in business leads, said UBM MES general manager Alun Jones.
The FHM 2017 organiser said the event would also bring positive spin-offs to the local economy and a boost to Tourism Malaysia’s target of 31.8 million tourist arrivals and tourism receipts of RM118 billion.
“We envisage that foreign participants and visitors of FHM 2017 and Culinaire Malaysia 2017 will take the opportunity to visit other attractions in Malaysia after the events,” he said in an interview recently.
“The event will be a hive of activity as over 23,000 trade visitors from 57 countries, including top chefs and experts from the hospitality and tourism industry, will converge at the event. A total of 1,200 participating companies from 50 nations were also expected at the show,”Jones added.
The event will be spread over 10 exhibition halls at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, including an extra hall at Mandarin Oriental, making FHM 2017 larger in size by 15 per cent compared to FHM 2015.
International pavilions this year include from Algeria, Belgium, China, Japan, South Korea, Libya, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey and the United States.
Some of the key local and international industry players taking part include brand names such as Auric Marketing, Bidfood Malaysia, Euro-Atlantic, F&B Beverage Marketing, Global Pacific Victory, KIAN, Lloyd’s, Nestle, NKR Continential and Pastry Pro.
FHM 2017 is open from 10am to 6pm till Thursday and on Friday from 10am to 5pm. The exhibition is open to professionals, trade and business visitors only.