ATQ to recognise top conference centres in W/Africa

Atq has opened nominations for 2019 Balafon West African Travel and Tourism Awards as part of the annual travel event, Accra Weizo will hold the 2019 edition between June 28 and 29, 2019 in Ghana.

following the encouraging trend of  Balafon awards in 2017, 2018 with Top 100 Tourism personalities in West Africa’ and Top 100 Hotels in West Africa, respectively, in 2019, atqnews seeks to position the leading conference centres in West Africa. The winners of the categories will be selected via nominations to atqnewsawards@gmail.com before June 4 and it will be ratified by a board made of specialist and media.

The award categories include Travel Personality of the Year in West Africa,

Tourism Man of the Year in West Africa, Aviation Man of the Year in West Africa, Hotel Personality of the Year in West Africa, Aviation Minister of the Year West Africa, Tourism minister of the year in West Africa, Best Airline in West Africa and Best Hotel in West Africa.

others include Best Airport in West Africa (for government agencies), Best Ground Handling Company in West Africa, Best Tourism Marketing Award West Africa, Top three tourism Events of the Year West Africa and Top 10 Conference Centres in West Africa.

Last year, at the World Travel Market in London, Ghana Tourism Authority signed a five-year MOU with Akwaaba Travel Market, the organisers of Accra Weizo to jointly Organise the Expo which has been successful and solely organised by the owners.

Ghana is the leading Meetings Incentives Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) destination in West Africa and ranks first on ICCA ratings. Hosting Accra Weizo reinforces the positioning of Accra for MICE and Ghana for Tourism.

Weizo has successfully brought travel professionals from different countries to Ghana for Tourism Business. It is themed for Seamless travel in West Africa.

The Ag CEO of Ghana Tourism Authority Mr Akwasi Agyeman signed on behalf of Ghana and Mr Ikechi Uko signed on behalf of Akwaaba Travel Market. “This Agreement offers Ghana an opportunity to help build up an already thriving platform into a bigger event.

We recognise the efforts and contributions of the organisers but we want the event bigger than it is and we believe it will bring more travel professionals to Ghana” Mr Agyeman said.

On his part Mr Ikechi Uko thanked GTA for the partnership “It takes a man with a vision to see the power behind such platforms and move to take ownership of the project for the growth of Tourism in Ghana. I applaud the CEO and his team for this collaboration.

“We expect that with the Goodwill of the Government of Ghana Weizo will grow bigger.” The agreement spells out roles by both sides and timelines to be managed by a joint committee.”