The CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), convener of the conference, Mmatšatši Marobe, maintains that the vision for the awards is to acknowledge the work and achievement of the people within the industry while showcasing their products and services.
Like the conference, the awards feature continues to grow from strength to strength with submissions coming from across the southern African region. This year, the award was made up of four categories: Best New Hotel Investment; Tourism Leadership; Excellence in Tourism Reporting and Mover & Shaker.
In the category of Best New Hotel Investment Award, the spot for the winner is been contested by Protea Hotel Willow Lake in Bloemfontein, the Radisson Blu Sandton and Mapungubwe Hotel in the Joburg CBD. These were among the nominated projects that are thought to have set new standards and benchmarks in the industry in terms of capital investment, innovation and operational practices.
Kurt Ritter, president and CEO of the Rezidor Hotel Group; Arthur Gillis, MD of the Protea Hotel Group and Adrian Gardiner, CEO of the Mantis Group are contesting the award for the Tourism Business Leadership.
For the Mover and Shaker Award category, the finalists are Andrew McLachlan, vice-president of business development at Rezidor Hotel Group and Craig Drysdale, GM charter division at Springbok Atlas.
Due the slow response from the travel and tourism journalism, the 2009 award of Excellence in Tourism Reporting received less qualifying nominations. The finalist in this category is Now Media's, Kate Els.
The winners of the 2009 HICA Awards in the four categories will be announced during the conference on 5 and 6 November. Registration to attend the HICA conference is still open. To register, view the conference programme and the speakers, go to www.hica.co.za.
