Oliver Tambo Airport, Ethiopian Airlines, Arik Air, Others Win Africa Travel Awards

Accra the capital city of Ghana was chosen as the most friendly African city for African visitors, kruger National park in South Africa is the clear winner of the best National park in Africa while Obudu mountain Resort in Nigeria won as the best Resort in West Africa.

  For organising the best Unwto world congress ever with attendance from over 120 countries despite sanctions against Zimbabwe the ministers of Tourism from Zambia Hon. Syvia Masebo and Walther Mazembi of Zimbabwe will be honoured with  The prestigious  African Legend Award for 2013. Mrs Anita Baptist of Nitaconsult Ghana a world class Travel consultant will receive the Balafon Award of excellence along with Movie maker Amaka igwe of Nigeria credited with  introducing destination promotion into nollywood movies through the training of movie makers on the Tourism impact of movies. Nollywood have been credited for the increase in arrivals to Nigeria as Africans now perceive Nigerians in a differrent light because of the popularity of the movies.

In 2008 the organizers of Akwaaba Travel market decided to introduce Africa travel Awards to honor Africans who have thrived and pioneered different Areas of Travel and Tourism.

During the 4th AKWAABA TRAVEL MARKET the only international expo in West Africa, the best of travels and tourism were recognized at the Travel Awards dinner on the 25th of October 2008. ATQ magazine had organized Travellers Award for Airlines and Hotels in Nigeria since 1996 and in 2007 presented its first set of West Africa Travel Awards now christened BALAFON AWARDS .

Africa Travel award has been on every year at Akwaaba since 2008 but it has always been selective: e.g. the African Legend awards was given to first female pilots, past heads of states and pioneers in Africa. Past recipients of the Award includes former President of Gambia Sir Dawda Jawara, Dr Danny Jordaan, the CEO of South Africa world Cup LOC, Capt Irene Mutungi, the first lady Airline Captain in Africa, Capt Desta Zeru the first African to captain a B787 and a host of other pioneers in Africa. The event had seen the former President of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo, former Secretary General of Commonwealth, Sir Emeka Anyaoku and Chief Alex Ekwueme former Vice President of Nigeria as Guests. The Ministers Of Tourism from different African Countries, State Governors in Nigeria Executive secretary of ATA Eddie Bergman have all graced the Awards.

This year award was a competitive award and to be sure it’s results are broadly received a committee of trusted persons across Africa and abroad was put in place to nominate and authenticate the results.

The committee  served as a vetting group to either agree or disagree with the results. The final results was agreed upon by the group before the results were announced.

The committee started in July and the results were approved by middle September.

The members are:

Dr. Chika Onyeani. US based publisher of African Sun Times

 Gordon Adoboe  president Tour Operators Union of Ghana

 Consiga Khiga Ceo of Destination Connect in  Kenya

 Denis Gathanju Publisher and Travel promoter in Kenya and Rwanda

 Monique Swart  a business Travel Expert from South Africa and founder African Business Travel Assocition  ABTA

 John Miller  An Aviation correspondent and Travel Publisher from South Africa

 Tejan Nyang  a leading Tourism Practitioner from the Gambia

Yinus Silas from Gambia Observer newspapers.

 Aly Diouf  a journalist  from Senega’sl  le Soleil newspaper.

 Ogo Sow Senegalese American based in Atlanta popularly known as Mr. africa

Samuel Doe from Ghana Daily Graphics Newspapers

Feetah Janjay Campell  a journalist from Liberia

Yvette smith Cole   producer with the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation

Patricia Ellis   Producer Explore Zambia TV program on ZNBC

 Olatinuke Nwakohu Vice president of Travel Agency association in Nigeria NANTA

The release of the award results comes as Akwaaba African Travel Market will be running its first TVC on African Magic channel 154 a very popular channel on the pan African Tv carrier the popular multichoice Dstv starting from the 25th of September. The tvc will be aired on the award winning travel program on DSTv ” thru the eyes of an African”. In order to reach a wider audience in Africa the organizers have chosen the pan African popular channel 154 to launch the advert. They plan to expose the advert on CNN and local TV channels in Nigeria and Ghana. The advert produced by Award winning Producer Yvonne Bassey will showcase the variety of activities at Akwaaba aimed at exciting Africans on the joys of traveling. The program “Thru the eyes of an African” airs on Wednesday by 16.30pm CAT and is repeated on Thursday and Fridays. Akwaaba 2013 is attracting new countries and exhibitors hence the need to attract more visitors to the fair.

 Rwanda the East African poster boy of emerging markets will be showcasing its huge tourism products at Akwaaba African Travel Market. Recently Rwanda was rated as the most improved Tourism destination in Africa. It is the first country to open its borders to other Africans a milestone in Tourism and intra African relationship. With its resurgent Airline Rwandair positioning itself as one of the preferred Airlines in Africa, Rwanda is set to play among the big league in Africa. It is blessed with a wonderful environment. This year it hosted Nollywwod star Ramsy Nouah at its annual Gorrilla naming ceremony. Rwanda is open to both leisure and business travelers. Rwanda stand at Akwaaba will house the tourist board and the Airline Rwandair which already flies into Nigeria.

As one of Africa’s most unique destinations, Namibia is set to expand it’s appeal to more travelers this time in West Africa. The Namibian Ministry of  Tourism and Environment and the Namibian Film commission will be showcasing at the only international Tourism Expo in West Africa that takes place in Lagos annually. Namibia with its wild Skeleton beach, the famed national parks and picturesque city of Windhoek offers a composite blend of attractions that appeal to the adventurous, the sedentary and the urbane shopaholic the types that have been flying out of Nigeria in huge numbers recently.

West Africa with a population of over 270 million people have 2 of the fastest growing Economies in the world in Ghana and Nigeria. Nigeria with over 6 million international passengers generates over $1.25b from flight tickets annually. Today almost all the leading African and Middle east airlines are increasing flights into Nigeria with the rapid rise in Passenger figures. Ethiopian Airlines is the king over the Nigerian skies with daily flights into Lagos, Abuja and now Enugu. Its sister airline Asky has flights into Lagos and Abuja. Kenya Airways flies twice into Lagos and is about to start Abuja flights. Emirates flies twice a day to Lagos and soon to Abuja, Etihad and Qatar are all hauling huge figures from the ever growing travelers.

Nigeria with 167 million people have only 15million passengers annually which is less than 10% of its population. So the trend will be upward in the coming years.

Air Namibia flies to Ghana and will soon start flights to Lagos and Akwaaba provides a huge opportunity for Namibia to reap from the huge West African traveling public who patronise South Africa and Dubai as first choice of regional destinations.

Namibia now joins The Gambia in planning big for Nigerian travelers at Akwaaba.” As you are aware the Gambia Day has always been a very important activity for the Gambia on Akwaaba ” this is according to Adama Njie the Director of Marketing for the Gambia Tourism Board. The Gambia celebrates the Gambian Day at Akwaaba African Travel market that takes place in Lagos, Nigeria annually. The preparations for this years edition is in high gear.The Gambian High Commissioner to Nigeria Her Excellency Mrs Angela Colley-Iheme is a permanent fixture at all major tourism event in Nigeria winning friends for the country. She was the special guest of Honour at The Abuja Bantaba event early July.

Recently The Tough Operators Union of Ghana TOUGHA inked an agreement with Akwaaba African Travel Market to participate as a group in the 2013 edition of the leading travel  fair in West Africa taking place in Lagos,Nigeria.

Tougha is the organisation that brings all tour operators in Ghana together. It encompasses both inbound and outbound Operators and is one of the strong pillars of tourism in Ghana

The president of Tougha Mr. Gordon Adoboe announced that the agreement with Akwaaba was reached   To enable Ghanaian tour operators interact with their counterparts from other Countries and meet directly the huge Nigerian traveling Public as Nigeria generates a huge part of Ghana’s inbound tourists.

Most of the leading hospitality groups in Ghana have made Akwaaba the major marketing platform for face to face sales in Africa. the event has hosted past minister of Tourism from Ghana and ghana tourism board is a regular exhibitor with a dedicated Ghana day celebrated at Akwaaba.

Tougha will be joining The National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents NANTA at Akwaaba. Nanta is already a partner with Akwaaba hosting a stand for its over 1000 members. NATOP the Nigerian association for tour operators also partners Akwaaba, along with New York based Africa Travel Asssociation ATA

This comes as one of the biggest names in Travel and Tourism research in the World,German based Dr. Auliana Poon was announced as the guest speaker at this years African Travel Market taking place in Lagos from the 27th to 29th of October 2013. Dr. Poon will be speaking on the topic”The Paradigm shift in Travel and Tourism and it’s Implication for Africa”. her Presentation will be on the 27th during the opening ceremony and the Africa Travel Award Dinner.

The paper will be taken from her recent research on the paradigm shift in Tourism.  According to Dr. Poon the new research throws more light on travel and Tourism trends. “Do you know that there is a paradigm shift taking place in travel and tourism?  Do you understand the opportunities, uncertainties and challenges that this shift is creating?  Would you like to discover strategies that could help you to weather the storm?Would you like to be even more competitive in these challenging times?To answer all of these questions and more, Tourism Intelligence International has launched a comprehensive report entitled, “The Paradigm Shift in Travel and Tourism”.  The report is almost 3 decades in the making. It brings together, for the first time, all of the key trends and analyses in one comprehensive, must-read report for decision-makers.The Paradigm Shift in Travel and Tourism examines the key drivers and facilitators of the paradigm shift in travel and tourism. It identifies the implications for industry players and provides the ‘new Alphabet’ of competitiveness for the industry. A total of 26 strategies for success (from A to Z) is explained in The Paradigm Shift in Travel and Tourism. Learn from the leaders like Accor, Carnival and Starbucks. Follow examples of Australia, Costa Rica and South Africa. Don’t make mistakes like Disney and Club Med. Brand like Bennetton.”

.  Akwaaba: African Travel Market also announced her partnership with Kwanza Trade Marketing, Dubai in preparation for the upcoming 9th African Travel Market Kwanza will serve as the official representative of Akwaaba in the Emirates.

Kwanza Trade Marketing is a boutique Marketing Agency that promotes trade between the Gulf and Sub-Saharan Africa. A representative of Dubai World Trade centre in Sub-Saharan Africa, the agency’s goal is ensuring that the best and value added products and services from Africa reach this market and encourage investments and skills transfer from the region to Africa. Kwanza are also the Co/Publisher of The Destination Dubai Guestbook a lifestyle guestbook about Dubai as well as promoting Entertainment, Film Afro-Fashion and practical Educational Workshops, Seminars and Guest Speaking.

ABTA  speakers for Akwaaba African Travel Market 2013 announced.

The Africa Business Travel Association ABTA the exclusive training partner for Akwaaba 2013 have released the names of confirmed speakers for the event taking place in Lagos ,Nigeria from the 27th to the 29th of October 2013.  The Business Travel  training sessions will be held on Monday the 28th and Tuesday the 29th during the Travel fair. Their other speakers who are yet to confirm their participation. The training sessions are the high points for this years event. The ABTA speakers and their topics are….

.  – The Future of TMC’s – Will they soon become extinct?

Ms Ifeoma Omesiete – Bollore Africa Logistics Nigeria (confirmed)

– The Corporate Perspective – Key Challenges faced by companies traveling into Africa

Alan Reid – Travel Manager for Puma Energy and Trafigura and ex BP Travel Procurement Manager (confirmed)

– Independent TMC’s – Being globally competitive with local know-how

Yemisi Bamidele – MD – Peninsula Travel and Tours (confirmed)

– Looking after your travellers – Matching ‘wants’ with ‘needs’

Debbie Ubaru – Sigma Travel (confirmed)

– Airline Alliances – The perfect solution or a possible nightmare?

Cosmando Byarugaba (AirFrance KLM), Thobi Duma (SAA), Hafeez Balogun (RwandAir) – Gabriel Olowo CEO Sabre.

 Akwaaba had earlier inked a partnership with South African based ABTA (Africa Business Travel Association-www.abta.co.za). An Organisation with vast experience in training and corporate travel empowerment as the Exclusive Education Partner for the upcoming Akwaaba African Travel Market. The education sessions is aimed at addressing business travel topics that are of pertinence to local industry professionals and will positively impact business travel professionals across Africa.

We are delighted to have formed this partnership and to have been named as the Exclusive Education Partner for the upcoming Akwaaba: African Travel Market,” said ABTA Founder Monique Swart.  “Akwaaba has done a fantastic job, working very hard over the last several years in hosting these phenomenal events and we feel very privileged to have been invited by them to assist in hosting the educational sessions that will be taking place during the event.”

Swart continued by saying that the 2 organisations had many areas of synergy as Akwaaba’s network of Business Travel Executives across Africa is unparalleled, and ABTA’s focus on the Education of this sector to advance the African Business Travel industry which makes for a natural and mutually beneficial partnership that will positively impact business travel professionals across Africa.

Speaking about the collaborative partnership between the two organisations, Ikechi Uko – Organizer of Akwaaba said:  “it’s wonderful to get a partner like ABTA with their experience in training and corporate travel empowerment. For us this is a great partnership that promises to make AFTM 2013 a must attend event for professionals in the region

           Africa Travel Association Renew Tourism Partnership with Akwaaba 

The Africa Travel Association, the world’s leading travel industry trade association promoting tourism to Africa, today announced that it will renew its partnership with Akwaaba, the only annual international travel fair in West Africa, to market and promote tourism to West Africa.

“ATA is excited to partner with Akwaaba in its ninth year to increase arrivals to and tourism receipts in West Africa, particularly from North America and from across Africa, said Edward Bergman, ATA Executive Director. “As one of the world’s fastest growing regional markets that is benefiting from a growing middle class and increase in business travel, West Africa offers a wide range of investment and growth opportunities. ATA is committed to helping grow this marketplace through partnership.”

Akwaaba, also known as the African Travel Market, will be held once again at the New Expo Centre at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos, Nigeria from 27 to 29 October 2013. Over the last nine, years, Akwaaba has become the most important travel marketing platform in the region drawing attendance from over 20 countries, including 12 international airlines and leading African hotel chains. AKWAABA has been designated by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) as the official travel exhibition in Nigeria.

   The Africa Travel Association (ATA) is the leading global trade association promoting travel and tourism to Africa and strengthening intra-Africa partnerships. Established in 1975, ATA serves both the public and private sectors of the international travel and tourism industry. ATA membership comprises African governments, their tourism ministers, tourism bureaus and boards, airlines, cruise lines, hotels, resorts, front-line travel sellers and providers, tour operators and travel agents, and affiliate industries. ATA partners with the African Union Commission (AU) to promote the sustainable development of tourism to and across Africa. ATA’s annual events bring together industry leaders to shape Africa’s tourism agenda.

Akwaaba: African Travel Market in its 9th year is the only annual international Travel Fair in West Africa, drawing 7,000 to 10,000 delegates from over 20 countries worldwide. This Travel Fair not only boasts a large amount of visitors but also excels in the promotion of the 80+ exhibitors from the region’s leading hotels, airlines, travel agents, tour operators and similar industry suppliers that participates in the event.

In addition to the trade show aspect of the event, the organisers will also be running several educational sessions aimed at addressing business travel topics that are of pertinence to local industry professionals. (www.Africantravelmarkets.com)

Kwanza Trade Marketing’s Director, Nancy Karimi speaking on the Partnership “with my vast work experience in various parts of the world-Africa, Europe and far East Asia as well as my travels to at least a dozen Sub-Saharan African Countries, I have gained insight into business practices in Africa.

I also represent African Chambers of Commerce, Trade & Tourism Offices & top African Corporations- some of whom now export packed goods to UAE and Saudi Arabia, thanks to our efforts and input this we hope to do with Akwaaba: African Travel Market, 2013. I am relentless in promoting Africa and am delighted at this opportunity to share my passion with minds alike”.

Also commenting on the partnership, Ikechi Uko – Organizer of Akwaaba: African Travel Market says “we have always looked forward to reaching the biggest destinations Africans travel to and get them to come to Africa. Kwanza comes in handy in meeting this need, they know the Emirates and they know Africa and so they bring together the market and the people. We look forward to a Great relationship”.

With this partnership Akwaaba: African Travel Market, 2013 seeks to create more trade and business opportunities for its clients from the Gulf region especially Dubai making it the must attend Travel Expo in the whole of Africa.