A jewel in Mogale’s tourism crown, the Cradle of Humankind world heritage site has been rewarded by the inaugural Africa Investor Tourism Awards, beating off strong competition from across the continent.
The Cradle of Humankind was recognised at the inaugural Africa Investor Tourism Awards, when it won the award for Sustainable Tourism Investment of the Year.
The world heritage site and Dinokeng Blue-IQ received the award at a gala ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Johannesburg, on Monday, 25 February. The Blue-IQ project is an initiative of the Gauteng provincial government to establish geo-spatial tourism destinations in the northwest and the northeast of the province, close to the densely populated metropolitan areas of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.
There was stiff competition in the category from the likes of the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Growthpoint Properties, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development and the Europe Commission-Botswana Government Infrastructure Development Deal.
Africa Investor Tourism Awards aims to recognise initiatives and investments that are changing the face of tourism in South Africa. It is designed to showcase Africa’s opportunities and achievements to the rest of the world, collectively raise awareness about Africa as a tourist destination, and reward those groups developing the tourism industry on the continent as a vehicle to drive sustainable economic growth.
Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the minister of tourism, released a statement saying that Africa had led growth in international tourist arrivals in 2005 and 2006; it was expected that the trend would be seen to have continued in 2007.
“Tourism has become an effective tool to fight poverty while at the same time aiming to improve the capacity of African destinations so that we can respond adequately to the increasingly competitive international market.”
Other winners from South Africa were Protea Hotels, Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal, the Tourism Enterprise Programme, Safari and Tourism Insurance Brokers and the Industrial Development Corporation. Other nations that produced winners included Nigeria, Kenya and Botswana. Foreign nations that have invested in tourism in Africa that won included Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
There were 11 categories in total, including Best Initiative in Facilitating Small and Medium Enterprise Tourism Investment, Business Airline of the Year, Business Resort of the Year, Best Business Travel Insurer, Hospitality Management Team of the Year, Best Hotel Management, Best IT 2010 Legacy Investment, and African Tourism Minister of the Year.