This year’s edition of the Accra Weizo will come off between June 22-23, organisers have announced.
The annual event which will be held at the Adaekese Hall at La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra, will also some 100 top hotels across the West Africa subregion being honoured for excellent service delivery over the past year.
Accra Weizo is a Travel event now in its 4th edition, aims at creating a seamless travel environment in West Africa. It brings together Travel professionals in West Africa. It is one of the events geared towards getting West Africans to cooperate among themselves.
Aviation Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, is expected to deliver an address on the theme; ‘Harnessing the Opportunities in Aviation value chain in West Africa’ on the day of opening.
“Our Events are geared towards capacity building and networking. After the success of Banjul Bantaba, we expect Ghana to surpass the Gambia Experience,” stated Ikechi Uko, CEO of Akwaaba African Travel Market and Organiser of Accra Weizo.
West Africa is home to 15 countries with over 350 million people but Tourism and Travel is not the strong suite of the economic interaction in the region. The Region receives 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.
The first day will be the seminar on Aviation and the second day will be dedicated to how to use ‘Travel, Tourism and the Internet’ to grow Travel Business and destination. It will be taking place at the Adaekese Hall at LaPalm Royal Beach Hotel, Accra.
There will also be a Hospitality panel made up of top hotel managers in West Africa to discuss how to model the hospitality industry in Africa around international standards.
Panelists include Marigold Vivian Mingle of Ridge Royal Resort at Cape Coast and former General Manager of La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra; Pastor Emmanuel Geadda-Asando, Vice President -Ghana Progressive Hotels Association; Sajid Khan, General Manager of Tang Palace Hotel, Accra.
Other speakers are Steve Ayorinde, Lagos State Commissioner of Tourism; Mr Lehlohonolo Pitso, West Africa Regional Manager for South African Tourism (SAT); Akwasi Agyeman, acting of CEO Ghana Tourism Authority; Ebele Enemchukwu, former Miss Tourism United Nations and Ghana’s tourism promoter and CEO of Kaya Tours Abeku Aggrey (Santana).
The rest are CNN Journalist of the Year Award winner and leading Travel Writer Obinna Emelike of Business Day (Nigeria); Ghanaian blogger, Ameyaw Debrah; Chiamaka Obuekwe, MD, Social Prefect Tours, as well as Ghanaian-based Communicator, Chris Koney.
There will be a special presentation on Dubai which has become the hottest destination for West Africans by the Regional representative for Dubai Tourism, Stella Obinwa of DTCM, on 22nd of June.
Lagos State which is the event and entertainment capital of Africa will be showcasing its wealth of attractions on Saturday, June 23 at the EKAABO Day. The Ghana Tourism Authority will showcase its flagship programme at Ghana Day with See Ghana, Wear Ghana, Eat Ghana.
