We are changing the name of the PUIG Committee for Hotel and Catering Industry to the HoReCa Committee, which results from the need to take a broader approach to the industry and comprehensively represent participants in this market.

Current challenges related to running a business in these areas require cooperation of many environments, also in the context of the current socio-economic situation and the war beyond our eastern border, which has shown how huge the industry's involvement is in providing assistance to Ukrainian citizens in the first stage, and in the next stage how necessary their knowledge and experience may be in rebuilding Ukraine, releasing the potential of small entrepreneurs who will want to continue or start a business in the new macroeconomic conditions.

"As Chairwoman of the Committee, I will focus my activities on strengthening cooperation and conducting dialogue with our partners and market regulators in order to improve the condition of the industry and strengthen its voice in the process of supporting Ukrainian friends. Our conscious joint cooperation allows us to look broadly at the HoReCa industry. Together we will look for opportunities where it is harder to see them alone. We will talk about more effective possibilities of achieving the most ambitious goals using the potential of people who look to the future and do not close themselves off to development even in unfavourable circumstances. After all, the common experiences, skills, competences, resources and strength of our industry are a specific value that we should fight for and take care of. Our priorities are: easier, constant access to knowledge, more effective investments in industry marketing, constant development and wide range of promotion of joint Polish-Ukrainian sales products, ongoing verification of suppliers and price negotiations, real influence on the development of our industry and systemic changes beneficial for hoteliers. It is also creating standards and building a positive perception of Ukrainian hotel industry among guests and the industry environment, as well as raising the profile of the hotelier profession and sharing passion for this industry with the young generation." - underlines Elżbieta Lendo, chairwoman of the Committee on the Polish side.

The HoReCa Committee's mission is to identify challenges related to running a business, as well as to indicate solutions that will contribute to maintaining jobs and the possibility of continuing business, as well as its development in the new legal environment when Ukraine joins the EU accession process.  

"An important place in the scope of the Committee's activities will be occupied by the sphere related to supporting entrepreneurs from Ukraine who are returning to their business activities, want to expand them and offer new services and will increasingly open up to the West." – he notes Marta Malskyi, chairwoman of the Committee on the Ukrainian side. He also serves as Head of the Department of Tourism at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv.

Andriy Maksysko became the vice-chairman of the Committee, which emphasizes the importance of strengthening Polish-Ukrainian trade, as well as the role that Poland can play by acting as a hub for the Ukrainian market, thus opening the door for domestic entrepreneurs to establish economic relations.

"Promoting Polish-Ukrainian cooperation in the hotel, catering and broadly understood catering services sectors is an important area for international entities, but above all for individual entrepreneurs who achieve success on the regional market. The exchange of knowledge, among others, through establishing direct partnerships between Polish and Ukrainian companies is one of the areas of the Committee's activities" – adds Andriy Maksysko, Bayadera Group.