Ekkula Pearl of Africa Tourism Awards 2022 nominations open as Minister launches 5th edition
Drake Nyamugabwa
The State Minister of Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities, Martin Mugarra Bahinduka has launched the 5th edition of the Ekkula Pearl of Africa Tourism Awards 2022 after 2 years due to COVID-19 pandemic with a theme: “Rethinking Tourism and Promotion of Green Initiatives”
The award night according to the organizers will take place on 1st December 2022 at Sheraton Hotel,
The minister during the launch of the tourism awards said that this year’s edition will include regional quality assurance and sustainability training workshops, intended to improve service delivery by impacting basic tourism skills across the value chain.
“Unlike the previous awarding ceremonies, this year’s Ekkula Tourism awards will involve regional quality assurance and sustainability training workshops, intended to improve service delivery by impacting basic tourism skills across the value chain. The first regional expo will take place on the 14th of October 2022 in Mbale, moving to Gulu on the 21st of October 2022, and then on the 28th 0f October in Fort portal the tourism city and wrapping the regional workshops in Kampala on the 04th of November” he said
The Minister said that the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities therefore strongly supports private sector initiatives that intend to promote tourism adding that such initiatives will increase the quality of service and encourage healthy competition in the industry.
He applauded the Africa Tourism and Environment Initiatives quality assurance project (ATEI) which is part of the organizers of the Ekkula Pearl of Africa Tourism Awards to recognize the best performing stakeholders of the tourism industry.
“Ekkula Pearl of Africa Tourism Awards is a Private Sector driven tourism initiative passionate in promoting tourism through Training, Recognising, Awarding and Subsequently Motivating key stakeholders in the Tourism Industry annually” he said
Amumpaire Bismac Moses, pictures above (R),Team Leader, Africa Tourism & Environment Initiatives, (ATEI) a youth and female-led organization said that this year the awards will have pre-events of quality assurance training workshops that will start before and continue during, and after this year’s awards night gala.
“Our call for Quality Assurance is because it enhances the work structure of the sector. It adds more value to any travel-related organization. It facilitates with ISO certification which covers almost everything including technology, food safety, increased tourism, and improved healthcare” he said
He said that the benefits of service quality in tourism is “Improving service quality can increase revenues through, retaining a higher percentage of existing customers, attracting more customers through positive word of mouth, and increasing the usage rates of existing customers”
The proposed categories includes: Tourism Media Personality 2022, Travel Photographer Of 2022, Tourism Supportive Media House, Cultural Tourism Award 2022, Pearl Of Africa Event Of The Year, Airline Of The Year, Accessible, Inclusive Tourism Award, Outstanding Tourism Entrepreneur, Tourism Honorary Award, Lifetime Tourism Achiever among others.
