AKWAABA CELEBRATES THE BEST IN AFRICA AT AFRICA TRAVEL AWARDS The Africa Travel Awards will be honoring deserving individuals in the Tourism and Travel Industry in Africa .This will include Capt. Irene Koki Mutungi who will be honoured by Women in Aviation (Nigeria) International-Glowing Wings Chapter in partnership with AKWAABA. Best Hotel in West Africa, Best Airline in West Africa, African Airline of the year. Best Short Haul Airline (Africa), will be some of the awards to be presented on that day Capt. Irene Koki Mutungi is the first Woman in the World to captain the World’s newest Plane -the Boeing B787 Dreamliner and will yet again receive recognition for her pioneering role in Africa’s Aviation Industry. She was recognized at AKWAABA in 2009 as the first African Lady Captain of a Commercial Airliner. Women in Aviation, International with headquarters’ in the USA, is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to the advancement of women in all Aviation career field and interests with over 10,000 Professionals all over the world. According to the President of the Glowing Wings Chapter- Mrs. Ifeyinwa Megwa who would be leading her Chapter to the fair “We deemed it fit to honour one of our own, Capt. Irene has accomplished a feat no female has ever attained in Africa. In doing this, we are not only recognizing her for been exceptional, we hope this will encourage more females to reach extraordinary heights in their Aviation careers and also encourage young women to consider aviation as a career too. So, we couldn’t think of a better medium to present this award to her other than AKWAABA, a credible platform that has consistently honoured pioneers in Africa over the years.” 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 others. Amongst the VIP’s who have graced the event includes Former President of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo, and former Secretary General of Commonwealth, Sir Emeka Anyaoku and Chief Alex Ekwueme former Vice President of Nigeria, Executive secretary of ATA Eddie Bergman as Guests. The event will be holding at the Eko Hotels and Suites – Convention Centre on the 26th through the 28th of October 2014. DAY 1 Sunday Exhibitions will start at 3pm and will be declared open by the Honourable Minister of Lands, housing and urban development Mrs Akon Eyakenyi. With Special guest: Engr. Benjamin Adeliyeka – Acting Director General NCAA , and Guest of Honour: Capt. Irene Koki Mutungi – (first lady to captain a B787 Dreamliner in the world). At 5pm African Travel Awards begins, with a scintillating performance by BEZ the popular Nigerian Musician and Daniel Omara the Ugandan comedian and entertainer as compere. Daniel Omara Pkwiiyulli would be keeping the entertainment coming. Daniel Omara Pkwiiyulli an entertainer who had his debut into stardom in 2009 after he emerged as the 2nd runner up in the very popular DSTV reality TV competition ‘Standup Uganda’. Though he was not the winner of the ultimate prize, he was indeed the most celebrated contestant by popular demand. DAY 2 October 27th 10am-5pm Monday Exhibitions begins at 10am, there will be business networking and meetings at the stands. There will be a live broadcast from the South Africa stand. ABTA Business Travel Workshop kicks off at the Mezzanine with the opening and welcome by Monique Swart, founder African Business Travel Association. There will be a panel discussion on ‘The changing Corporate Travel Landscape in Nigeria’, thereafter The TMC value proposition, followed by a round table industry discussion on ‘practical strategies for re-defining TMC, travel agent, supplier and client relationships. DAY 3 October 28th 10am-1pm Exhibition begins at 10am and ends at 5pm. The Hospitality day workshop will begin at 10am at the Mezzanine with Chief Sonny Odogwu (MFR) - Chairman Grand Hotel Asaba giving the keynote speech on the topic ‘investing in hospitality business between the known and the unknown’. Other speakers are Funke Adepoju – MD Rightplaces speaking on ‘Hotel Beddings and other Essentials’, Bob Bamgboye – CEO Current-Links Systems LTD Speaking on ‘the futuristic hotel and innovations in hospitality’ and Anu Rotimi Agboola – Head of Business Enterprise, Samsung West Africa on ‘innovation and technology as a platform to enhance the guest experience. There will be a panel to discuss the issues as presented. The panellist will comprise of Hotel Managers from the leading hotel chains in West Africa. Chairman of panel Mr. Barry Curran – Area Manager Starwood Hotels, Nigeria, Mr. Danny Kioupouroglou – GM Eko Hotel and Suites, Mr. Adrian Landry – GM Legacy Hotels and Resorts International and Mr. Kazeem Durosomo – GM Golden Tulip, PH. Nigeria is accepted globally as one of the biggest wine markets in the world consuming more than many African countries put together. The merging lifestyle merges with the growing middle class and its taste for global products. Travel and tourism is one of the biggest beneficiaries of this new class of Nigerians. It is this class of Nigerians that are travelling that also consumes this large quantity of wine and champagne. To further organize the products and align it with its patrons, the organizers of AKWAABA African Travel Market will this year dedicate its hospitality day October the 28th to Wine Tasting. Virgin Atlantic Airline, a leading European carrier known for its core values of Fun and Innovation will be coming back to exhibit at AKWAABA after a 9year absence. Virgin as it is known was at the inaugural edition of AKWAABA and is returning to AKWAABA just as the airline reengineers for greater success. Recently Virgin has become more active on the Nigerian scene organizing an entrepreneurship competition that produced two winners to be supported by the Airline. The winners of the challenge had an opportunity to meet with the maverick promoter of the Airline Sir Richard Branson. The award winning airline has been launching new in-flight services and opening new lounges globally and will be showcasing along with other players in the industry. At the hugely successful Magical Kenya Expo which ended on the 10th of October at KICC Nairobi. The East African countries participating at the event adopted AKWAABA African Travel Market as the official tourism expo in West Africa. At a meeting of the inaugural East Africa tourism stakeholders forum which held at Sarova Stanley hotel as part of the Magical Expo, the participating countries identified five international events and three regional events as the ‘must attend’ events for East African countries. The three regional events are Magical expo in Kenya, Kwita Izina in Rwanda and the Matyr event in Uganda. The five International events are WTM London , ITB Berlin , JATA Japan , Indaba South Africa and AKWAABA for West Africa. This decision was made known by Dr Mohammed the principal secretary of Kenya tourism ministry.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 13:32:35 +0000
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