May 04--BEIRUT -- Lebanon's reputation for the best hospitality and gastronomic talent in the Middle East is now threatened by outdated educational facilities and curriculums, said the founding father of the country's hospitality schools and HORECA exhibitions, Nouhad Dammous.

"It's a pity. Hospitality schools in Lebanon are training their students to earn degrees and not to earn skills that the sector needs," Dammous said in an interview with The Daily Star on the occasion of him receiving the National Order of the Cedar Laureate award for his lifelong achievements in the tourism and hospitality sectors.

Out of the high number of such schools -- over 125 in the country -- only a handful have all of the necessary equipment to properly train qualified chefs and hotel staff, Dammous said.

"You cannot train qualified individuals for this sector using blackboards and chalk," he said.

Back in the '70s, Lebanon had some of the best hospitality schools in the world, Dammous said.

He recalled how his students at the Dikwaneh Hospitality Management School were automatically granted admission to some of the best hospitality schools in the United States.

Today, Dammous said, the most qualified Lebanese in these schools seek opportunities outside Lebanon and over half of the students are unable to find jobs that match their training after they graduate.

This has shaken Lebanon's status as the hospitality capital of the Middle East.

The enormous investments that are being poured into premium hospitality facilities in the Gulf Cooperation Council states also dwarf those of Lebanon.

"Of course we cannot, and neither [can] Europe, compete with the GCC in terms of quality of hospitality facilities," Dammous said.

"Our only comparative advantage is to train highly qualified staff that we had been for a long time preparing both for Lebanon and Arab countries. This is where the focus should remain and where improvement is due."

The development of the tourism and hospitality sectors also remains largely constrained by the country's turbulent security conditions, Dammous said.

"We started the HORECA exhibition in Beirut 20 years ago, years before Dubai, but today they are well ahead of us. What Dubai had and we lacked was peace and security," Dammous said.

"Every year we hesitate, because of the conditions, about whether we should go ahead with the exhibition," he said.

But despite its periods of instability, Lebanon still delivers pleasant surprises, Dammous said.

This year's HORECA exhibition was one of the best in years in spite of fears of a spillover from the Syrian conflict, plummeting tourism and a lingering political stalemate.

"We had the biggest number of exhibitors ever -- up to 400 -- and the highest revenues. It was one of the best years," he said.

"It is a country of miracles, and we cannot stop having faith."

___

(c)2013 The Daily Star (Beirut, Lebanon)

Visit The Daily Star (Beirut, Lebanon) at www.dailystar.com.lb/

Distributed by MCT Information Services