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The second edition of HostelCuba will bring together more than 100 exhibitors from 18 countries; 8 Cuban and 48 Spanish companies, as well as others from Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Uruguay, Panama and Mexico.

HostelCuba will exhibit products from the equipment and machinery for hotels and restaurants sectors; the Gourmet Area, with food and drink; Design, interior design and decoration; Hygiene and cleaning; Textiles, kitchenware and uniforms; Equipment and services for the entertainment industry, the leisure sector and tourist establishments; Technology and advice for management and communications. The show, to be held at the Pabexpo Exhibition Centre in Havana, expects to receive more than 3,000 professional visitors, including importers and exporters supplying purchasing centres, hotels, restaurants and mass caterers, architects, interior decorators and designers.

The trade fair will include product presentations by exhibitors, as well as thematic round table discussions, informative talks and networking activities aimed at facilitating contacts between professionals and influencers in the sector. There will also be a ‘Forum on Investing in Cuba’, a new space in which importers will present investment projects.

HostelCuba, which enjoys the support of the Cuban Ministry of Tourism (MINTUR), will also offer 400 business meetings – managed by the Cuban Chamber of Commerce – between exhibitors, most of them foreign, who wish to access the Cuban market, and major local professionals and government buyers interested in finding out about new products.

For the first time, the show will organise its own Gastronomy Forum, which will include show cooking sessions and tastings of international cuisines. Participants include companies such as Crisci Internacional, Idurgo, Grupo Damm, Resol and Rational, as well as chefs of the standing of Cuban chef Enoch Tamayo Acosta, who will prepare a ‘Habanero breakfast’; Alcibíades Rodríguez Tejada, who will make semi-prepared products for hospitality, and Fernando Esguerra, who will present how to combine old traditions with innovative solutions.

The show held its first edition in May 2016 in the context of Cuba opening up to foreign investors and companies for supplying different sectors, as is the case of equipment and services for hospitality and the tourism sector.

HostelCuba is one of the four shows that Fira de Barcelona is organising in Havana in conjunction with its government partner, Pabexpo, as a result of the agreement signed with the Palco Business Group, the leading trade fair and congress organiser in Cuba, which manages the venues Expocuba, Pabexpo and the Havana International Conference Center: Pacgraf, to be held in February; Energías Renovables, the Cuba International Renewable Energies Trade Fair, and Securtec, the International Security and Emergency Services Exhibition, which will be held jointly from 19 to 21 September. The 2nd edition of the Feria Alimentos Cuba, the International Food and Beverages Exhibition, will be held in 2018 from 22 to 24 May, incorporating food machinery and equipment, to coincide with the Festival of Rum and the XIV International Conference of Food Science and Technology (CICTA).