ATQ has opened nominations for 2019 Balafon West African Travel and Tourism Awards as part of the annual travel event Accra Weizo, Atqnews will host the awards of the 2019 edition.

In 2017, it hosted the awards for ‘Top 100 Tourism personalities in West Africa’ and at the 2018 edition it hosted the ‘Top 100 Hotels in West Africa’. Beside its annual Balafon award in 2019, atqnews seeks to position in positive light the leading conference centres in West Africa.

Winners of the categories will be selected via nominations to atqnewsawards@gmail.com before the 4th of June and it will be ratified by a board made of Specialist and Media. The award categories are: 1. Travel Personality of the Year in West Africa 2. Tourism Man of the Year in West Africa 3. Aviation Man of the Year in West Africa 4. Hotel Personality of the Year in West Africa 5. Aviation Minister of the Year West Africa 6. Tourism minister of the year in West Africa 7. Best Airline in West Africa 8. Best Hotel in West Africa 9. Best Airport in West Africa (for government agencies) 10. Best Ground Handling Company in West Africa 11. Best Tourism Marketing Award West Africa 12. Top three (3) tourism Events of the Year West Africa 13. Top ten (10) Conference centres in West Africa Last year, at the World Travel Market in London, Ghana Tourism Authority signed a 5 year MOU with the Organisers of Accra Weizo. The MOU is to Jointly Organise the Successful Expo with the owners Akwaaba Travel Market. Accra Weizo has been organized in Ghana for 4 years now and the 2019 edition has been fixed for June 28th and 29th. Ghana is the leading Meetings Incentives Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) destination in West Africa and ranks Number One 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 recognize the efforts and contributions of the organizers 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.

Ghana has declared 2019 the year of return in commemoration of 400 years of slavery. It has since hosted many events to mark the year. Accra weizo will be one of the international events listed for 2019.

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