GHANA: Tourism day - Accra Weizo For 23rd Of June 2018.

Catherine Afeku
The Minister of Tourism Culture and Creative Arts for Ghana Honourable Catherine Afeku will host the Tourism day of Accra Weizo on the 23rd of June 2018.

As Accra Reinforces its position as the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) capital of West Africa hosting Accra Weizo for the 4th time amongst other international events attracted to Ghana in the last one year speaks Volume of the Work done so far by the Ministry.

Accra is listed by ICCA the International Congress and Convention Association as the Top Conference Destination in West Africa.

Already many Major Tourism events have been hosted in Ghana in the last one year which includes the World Tourism Forum Africa and The UNWTO training for West Africa.

Ghana has just secured the rights to host part of AFRIMA the African Music Awards.

Accra Weizo is one of the events geared towards getting West Africans to Cooperate amongst themselves. .

West Africa is home to 15 countries of over 380 million people but Tourism and Travel is not the strong Suite of the Economic interaction in the region.

The Region receives among the lowest Tourism figures per Capita in Africa.

With a huge Population and over 40 Airports Aviation is dominated by Companies from outside the Region Accra Weizo is a Travel event now in its 4th edition aimed at creating a seamless travel environment in West Africa.

It brings together Travel professional in West Africa

Accra Weizo the Private sector event for West Africa offers another opportunity for Ghana to notch up its figures.

It is Already confirmed that the Honorable minister of Aviation for Ghana Hon.Cecilia Abena Dapaah will be Opening the 4th Accra Weizo event on the 22nd of June with a Paper titled ‘Harnessing the Opportunities in Aviation value chain in West Africa’

The first day will be the seminar on Aviation and the Second day will be dedicated to ‘Travel, Tourism and the Internet’ session to grow Travel Business and destination.

It will be taking place at ada Ekesi Hall at La Palm Royal Beach Hotel

The topics to be discussed on the first session of the event which is dedicated solely to Aviation in West Africa include

Interlining in West Africa, a possibility or a Mirage? Integrating West African Airport System, Standardizing Aviation Laws in West Africa for Regional Growth, Why West African Airlines fail easily and the future.

Confirmed panellists for that session are Capt Ado Sanusi –Managing Director of Nigeria’s oldest Airline Aero owners of the major MRO in the region, Chike Ogeah the Vice Chairman SAHCOL a leading Nigerian Owned Aviation handling and Logistics company.

Alex Nwuba, CEO of Ghana based Smile Aviation and former CEO of Nigerian based Associated Airlines, Richard Kyereh from Africa World Airlines the leading Airline in Ghana.

Other Airlines Chief Executives are expected to join the panel.

Because of the need to Organise the Tourism products available in the region to encourage Intra regional Tourism Atqnews will be hosting an Award for the Top100 Hotels in West Africa.

There will also be a Hospitality panel made up of Top Hotel Managers in West Africa to discuss “The Adapting of International Hotel Standards to the African Environment”

Already confirmed Panellists which is a mixture of African and non African Hotel Managers include Marigold Vivian Mingle of Ridge Royal Resort at Cape Coast. She was a former General manager of La Palm Royal beach Hotel in Accra.

Pastor Emmanauel Geadda-Asando Vice President -Ghana Progressive Hotels Association, Sajid Khan. General Manager, Tang Palace Hotel Ghana he is one of the most experienced Hotel. managers in West Africa having managed Fiesta Royal Accra, Golden Tulip Lagos, Golden Tulip Hotel Accra Ghana among others.

Malah Saleh is the CEO of Djembe Hotels and Balafon Hotels in the Gambia. Currently he is one of the biggest Hotel proprietors in West Africa.

Topics lined up for day 2 of the event on the 23rd include ‘How effective are travel bloggers, writers and influencers in promoting travel destinations in West Africa’ to be discussed by the following confirmed panellists will include Gabe Onah, Chairman Carnival Calabar Commission,

Steve Ayorinde ,Lagos state commissioner of Tourism, Mr Lehlohonolo Pitso, Regional Manager, West Africa for South African Tourism SAT, Akwasi Agyeman, ag.CEO Ghana Tourism Authority, Ebele Enemchukwu, Fmr Mrs Tourism United Nations.

Ghana’s Tourism promoter media Mogul and CEO of Kaya Tours Abeku Santana , Nigerian CNN journalist of the year Award winner and leading Travel Writer Obinna Emelike of Business Day,One of Ghana’s top Blogger Ameyaw Debrah of Ameyaw Tv.

The Instagram sensation, Nigerian star tour Operator Chiamaka Obuekwe, MD Social Prefect Tours, Ghanaian based Communicator Chris Koney

Also at Weizo a new association for Travel Trade in West Africa will be launched.

Four years after the launch of Accra Weizo as a West African Travel and Tourism platform for the growth of Seamless Travel in the Ecowas region a new association for Private sector Players in the region has emerged.

At the launch of Accra Weizo 4 years ago the Vision was to turn the 15 countries and its 380 million people into a Domestic Tourism Destination.

It has taken four years for the Organisers of Weizo to reach out to over 150 Travel and Tour Operators in West Africa from 6 countries enough to start a regional association that will drive Tourism in the region.

WATTA will be an association for any player in the Tourism and Travel environment.

The interim Board of WATTA will be announced and Inauguarated at Accra Weizo on the 23rd of June 2018 at La Palm Royal Beach Hotel Accra.

The ECOWAS region despite a protocol of free movement has not grown Intra regional Tourism and Travel.

According to Mr. Ikechi Uko CEO of AKWAABA African Travel Market and Organiser of Accra Weizo, “Our Events are geared towards capacity building and networking. After the success of Banjul Bantaba, we expect Ghana to Surpass the Gambia Experience


Tourism Observer

KENYA: Conferencing Tourism

There is no disputing that the soft white sandy beaches lining Kenya’s 536km long Indian Ocean coastline, and our national parks, reserves, conservancies and sanctuaries abundant with flora and fauna, are the main tourism attractions in our country.

Nevertheless, the growth in conference tourism in Kenya indicates the huge potential this segment has in its overall contribution to our tourism sector. The Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (Mice) sector is on a major growth path globally and no doubt Kenya has begun to enjoy the benefits from this market to our economy and in enhancing the country’s brand equity.

The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), headquartered in The Netherlands, carries out an annual ranking of the performance of Mice tourism globally. In carrying out the ranking, the ICCA considers factors such as the number of conferences organised in destinations, the size of the conferences in terms of the number of delegates participating, duration of the conference, the frequency of the conference and the subject and profile of the conference.

The country and city rankings play a major role in influencing the Mice organisers on which destinations to hold their annual events.

Nairobi, voted Africa’s Leading Meetings and Conference Destination at the 2016 World Travel Awards, has played host to numerous high profile conferences in the last one year that has seen delegates from across the globe flock into the city.

This is a clear indication of the high potential that the meetings and conference market has in contributing toward the growth in our tourism arrivals and revenues.

Most notable of the major meetings and conferences held in Nairobi were the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in July 2015, the World Trade Organisation 10th Ministerial Conference in December 2015, and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in July 2016.

Nairobi will host the 6th Tokyo Investment Conference on Africa Development on August 26 to 28. The largest East Africa tourism fair dubbed Magical Kenya Travel Expo 2016 is scheduled to take place in Nairobi from October 12 to 14. The fair organised by the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) brings together tourism professionals from 35 countries that represent Kenya’s key tourism source markets.

KTB is optimistic that this positive momentum in the conference tourism market will be maintained throughout the year, as our overall tourism figures continue to record an upward trajectory.