The ceremony, which is to take place at this year's Tourism Indaba in May, aims to raise the bar in service delivery and visitors' experiences to ensure that a holiday to South Africa becomes a life-changing experience.
SAT's Country Manager for Domestic Tourism Sindile Xulu said: “SA Tourism is committed to, and believes in the Welcome Awards as a means to, encouraging our industry to consistently enhance our visitor experience...”
The campaign was launched in 2005 with the aim of offering local and international tourists memorable experiences, as well as meeting and exceeding their expectations.
All the entries for 2008 are in and the response registered an impressive 156% increase from 2007.
The main sponsor of the awards, FNB, believes the number of entries can be used as a barometer of how tourists rate service in the tourism industry.
The number of entries to the awards has been steadily climbing each year and 499 were entered for 2008.
“This year's Awards entries have proved to be extremely successful as evidenced by the 49 tourist attractions nominated by the public and by 302 on-line nominations,” said Xulu.
Head of Tourism at FNB Pieter de Bruin said: “We are hugely excited with the response and growth shown as this is the first year of FNB's involvement and partner to the Welcome Awards.
“FNB as official National Supporter of the 2010 FIFA World Cup recognises that service excellence will be a critical element football fans will use in rating the success of the event.”
The competition was open to all service providers in the tourism industry - from tour operators, accommodation establishments to tour guides and tourist attractions.
The awards aim to promote the "Best-of-the-Best" as examples to the tourism industry by enhancing visitor's experience and encouraging word-of-mouth marketing.
It also promotes return trips to the country as well as identifying its innovations embracing authentic South African experiences.
The criteria for entry are based on the four significant areas of service delivery which are making contact or booking of services, arrival and service preparation, the experience and departure or conclusion of service.
To ensure transparency in the awards, a panel of judges was selected from the tourism industry as well as from the travel trade media.
The judging process commenced with the short-listing of entries and will continue until mid April 2008 where 26 finalists will be selected.
The finalists all stand in line to win a share of prizes to the value of R600,000 at the awards ceremony at the Tourism Indaba.
The money won by the winning tourism service provider can use it to increase business exposure, marketing and media coverage.
Article published courtesy of BuaNews
