As preparations for the debuting Nigeria Travel Week gathers momentum, organisers of the travel and tourism trade event have announced nominees for The Balearica Awards, which forms part of activities slated for the four days gathering that is geared at promoting Nigeria tourism both to the domestic and foreign markets as well as tourists.

Speaking at the media conference held during the week, the Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Travel Week (NTW), Efetobo Awhana, who is also the CEO of Avantgarde Tours, said that the award, which is to reward and recognize excellence and those who have made immense contributions to Nigeria tourism, would transform the face of tourism, insisting that it is a unique one.

He explained that the choice of Balearica, which is the name of Nigeria’s national bird on the coat of arm, is symbolic in that it is used for the promotion of tourism. Hence they have adopted it as the brand name and symbol for the award, an indication of the overall mandate and focus of NTW.

According to him, the awards categories are divided into 24 sections with 20 of the categories to be voted for by the public and the votes vetted by a private auditing firm while four of the categories are not to be voted for by the public but selected by the organisers based on the contributions made by the people so honoured.

The four awardees in this category unfolded by him are: Former President Olusegun Obasanjo for Life Time Achievement; Bankole Bernard, President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) as Travel Personality of the Year; Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II for Royal Support for Tourism while those nominated for Best Tourism Governor are: Governors of Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Ondo and Bauchi states.

Those gunning for Best Tourism Attraction of the year are: Idanre Hills, Nike Art Gallery, Calabar Carnival, Kajuru Castle Kaduna, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library and Kano Durbar while for Best Airline (Domestic) are Peace Air, Medview and Dana and for Best Tour Operators are: Jemi – Alade Tours, TravelNextDoor, Motley Travels, SJ Tours, Ibom Tourism, Tour2Nigeria and Remlords Tours.

Speaking on other aspects of the event, which is billed to hold between November 20 – 25 in Lagos, the Chief Operating Officer of NTW, Toni Ukachukwu, who is also the Managing Director of Afro Tourism, said they had secured strategic partners for the event including the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) and SKAL International Lagos.

The four days event would climax with The Balearica Awards, where the full names of the awardees would be revealed and celebrated for their different achievements. The occasion he said would attract the attention of both government and public operators.

Here is link to vote for the awards: https://nigeriatourismawards.com/vote/

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