Emeka Anokwuru
Over 70 foreign delegates are expected at the fifth Accra Weizo 2019, the West African tourism and travel fair. A top-level delegation of travel professionals from Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Benin and Togo will be coming to join travel and tourism players from Ghana at the event that has become a must-attend for industry stakeholders.
The Accra Weizo being organised in partnership with the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) will take place at La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, Accra, Ghana, between June 28 and 29, 2019. This year’s edition will also hold the Balafon awards to recognise travel professionals in the West African sub-region.
African Travel Quarterly (ATQ) organisers of the event, has released the list of winners of the prestigious Balafon awards to be recognised at the annual tourism fair. The Balafon ‘award of excellence’ is organised to recognize pioneers and best players in the industry in the ECOWAS region.
The event promises to be exciting as participants will tour some of the fascinating sites in Nzulenzu, a village built entirely on stilts on Lake Amansuri in Ghana’s Western Region. It was constructed out of wood and raffia with one central walkway to a dozen houses on either side. The only way to get there is to travel 5 kilometres on the lake in a local canoe. The most striking feature that catches the eye at Nzulenzu Lake is the wooden accommodation facilities hanging some five feet above the water level. Visitors to the village are welcomed personally by the Chief of the village.
Participants will also use the occasion to tour other Ghanaian sites which are less known to most tourists.
The organisers said, “The delegates will take a tour of the Greater Accra, Western and Central regions. Places of visit would include Nzulenzu, Ankasa Conservation Area, Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, Secondi European Town, and the Cape Coast Castle.”
The tour programme drawn for the event is in tandem with the GTA’s domestic tourism campaign of “Eat, Feel, See, and Wear Ghana.”
Last year, at the World Travel Market in London, Ghana Tourism Authority signed a five-year MOU with the organisers of Accra Weizo to jointly organise the successful expo with the owners of Akwaaba Travel