Organisers of Akwaaba African Travel Market in collaboration with ATQ News has said that Africa Top 100 tour operators awards and recognition would take place during the 14th edition of the annual travel show and exhibition, which holds from September 9 to 11, 2017 in Lagos.
Mr. Ikechi Uko, the organiser of Akwaaba African Travel Market, expressed his excitement about the awards and also shed light on the recognition for the Africa Top 100 tour operators.
He recalled that the team in 2017 celebrated the awards of the Africa Travel 100 Women at its 13th edition, during which top of the class, great and industrious women who had established themselves in and are still driving the growth of travel business from across Africa gathered in Lagos for that recognition.
“The resounding reception, feedback and transformation that event set forth in Africa coupled with the massive acceptance we received from every country in Africa and beyond was great. Today, many countries have set up Women in Tourism organisations and we are proud to have helped set it off.
“Our vision is to stimulate intra-Africa tourism. We need to get at least 10 per cent of Africans to travel within Africa. This can only work with the support of tour operators. We are going a step further this year to recognise and celebrate the core professional outbound tour operators who are at the fore of attracting and moving Africans outside their own countries to explore the abundance of the beauties of our Africa.
“Africa remains a great goldmine whose tourism potential remain unmatched and untapped. So, you can nominate your Top 5 of such operators. Nominations should be only for tour operators who do outbound tours to other African countries,” he said.
He explained that the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017, placed sub-saharan Africa countries as the region where travel and tourism competitiveness was the least developed.
He however noted that regional performance had increased, but was still less when compared to other parts of the world.
He emphasised that Southern Africa remained the strongest sub-region, followed by Eastern Africa and then Western Africa, but decried that despite this, on average, Eastern Africa was the most improved region, while Southern Africa had experienced a slight decline.
“And that considering the size and the rich cultural and natural resources, the 63 million tourists visiting the continent in 2017 remain low.
“It is against this background that the Africa Top 100 tour operators were chosen. Only Destination Marketing Companies (DMCs) that market mainly regional destinations were selected. Africa is a continent of over one billion people, but receives only 6 per cent of the global tourist arrivals.”
