During the forthcoming 4th edition of Akwaaba Travel Market, the only international expo in West Africa, the best in the travel and tourism industry will be recognized at the Travel awards dinner on 25 October 2008.

To make it a colorful and memorable, ATQ magazine has organized different traveler awards for the traveling family industries. The awards are categorized as per market and tourism industries are concerned.

There are numerous hotels, airlines, and state governors nominated for the awards christened Balafon Awards. Among them are Arik, Aero, and Virgin Nigeria, vying for the Best Airline in Nigeria and in West Africa awards. For network and connections, KQ and Ethiopian Airways will vie for the Best in Africa award.

In Nigeria, Qatar and British Airways are nominated for Airline of the Year based on growth in the past one year. Also British Airways and Emirates have been shortlisted for the Best Airline in Africa, while Air France/KLM is in line for two awards – Best Airline to Europe and America - in contention with British Airways and Delta Airlines.

The winners of the awards will be selected purely by verifiable empirical data, unlike in the past where the public voted online for their preferences.

On hotel awards, Transcorp Hilton and Le Meridien President of Dakar, and Le Meridien Ibom will square up against the Sheraton Hotel Gambia according.

In this Balafon awards Tanzania has been chosen as the African Destination of the Year, while Planet One Hotel and All Seasons Hotel have been chosen for Growth Awards. The Innovation Award of the year goes to NTDC for the launch of Satellite Navigation in Nigeria for travelers.

Gambia Tourism Authority takes the Tourism Marketing Award in West Africa while Ghana takes Destination of the Year in West Africa and Delta State has the Tourism Marketing Award for Nigeria.

Africa Travel Association has been chosen as the best promoters of African Tourism. The theme for this year’s awards is GROWTH and ‘the growth leaders in all sectors are being recognized’.

Akwaaba Travel Market, now in its 4th year, is the only international travel expo in West Africa. It was endorsed last year by the Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) as the official travel expo in Nigeria, and the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) early this year listed it on its website as the main tourism event in West Africa.

The most popular events are the world famous WTM London, ITB Berlin and INDABA, South Africa. Akwaaba is the 5th international event in West Africa to receive global recognition, the others being DAK’ARTS in Senegal for visual arts, FESPACO in Burkina Faso for movies, ROOTS in Gambia for Diaspora festival, PANAFEST in Ghana for culture and AKWAABA in Nigeria for Travel and tourism.

According to the organizer, Mrs Rita Ikechi-Uko, “Our 10-year experience garnered from organizing Travelers Awards has come in handy in packaging this event as these organizations are seeing the effort that has gone into giving our sub-region an event worthy of note. We are most grateful to the groups that have come forth to support us in the promotion of travel and tourism in West Africa.”

During this awards, Africa Travel Market will hold on the 25 October, and there will be a Hospitality Forum too, while exhibitors will be treated to a boat cruise.