Now in its sixth year, the prestigious Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB)`s Annual Tourism Awards were presented by Peter J. Mwenguo, TTB Managing Director, on behalf of Hon. Anthony Diallo, MP,…
Now in its sixth year, the prestigious Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB)`s Annual Tourism Awards were presented by Peter J. Mwenguo, TTB Managing Director, on behalf of Hon. Anthony Diallo, MP, Tanzania`s Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, at a Gala Tanzania Night. This Award dinner has become one of the celebrated traditions of the annual Africa Travel Association`s (ATA) International Congress. The 2006 honorees are Boston-based Overseas Adventure Travel – the Tour Operator Humanitarian Award; TravelTalkRADIO, the Media Award; Kilimanjaro Hotel Kempinski in Dar es Salaam, The Hotel Award and Precision Air, the Airline Award. The Awards Dinner took place on Tuesday, May 2, in Accra, Ghana.
Present at the Awards Dinner and Ceremony was the ATA Congress host, Hon. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Ghana`s Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City, ATA President, Hon. Kabinga J. Pande, MP, Minister of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, Zambia, Hon. Stephen Asamoah Boateng, MP, Ghana`s Deputy Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City, and ATA Executive Director, Mira Berman. Also in attendance were the Ministers of Tourism and heads of delegations from more than 20 African countries, the ATA International Board of Directors and Chapter representatives as well as more than 350 ATA delegates, mostly American Travel professionals. In addition to the Mr. Mwenguo, the Tanzania delegation included representatives from the Tanzania Ministry for Natural Resources & Tourism, the Tanzania Tourist Board, Tanzania National Parks and Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority.
TTB established the Tanzania Tourism Awards in 2001, both to express its support and appreciation to the travel professionals and media who have worked hard to promote and sell Tanzania from the US market; and as an incentive to increase the numbers even more in the coming years.
Peter Mwenguo, Managing Director TTB, noted Tanzania Tourism is booming. We have experienced an increase of close to 12% annually in the last few years, bringing us to 700,000 visitors in 2005, generating $1.072 billion USD. These awards provide us with an opportunity to recognize and show our appreciation to our partners in the industry who have made an enormous contribution to this increase in tourism. The TTB `Humanitarian Award,` now in its third year, was established in the belief that it is our local communities that must realize the financial benefits of this tourism boom. For this reason we applaud those tour operators who themselves give back to the local villages that they visit and encourage their clients to do so. In the end, tourism is about sustainable development that will encourage a culture of peace and friendship through tourism.
Amant Macha, TTB Marketing Director, added this year we wanted to not only honor our partners from the US, but our partners at home, who have helped to improve the quality and infrastructure of our tourism product. We could not experience this dramatic growth in tourism without this private sector investment and support.
The 2006 Award Honorees:
- 2006 Media Award – TravelTalkRADIO,
- 2006 Hotel Award – Kilimanjaro Hotel Kempinski
- 2006 Airline Award – Precision Air
- 2006 Tour Operator Humanitarian Award – Overseas Adventure Travel
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
