Uganda Tourism Excellence awards

The Uganda Tourism Excellence Awards celebrate the achievements of the tourism industry, giving recognition through the awards program as a way of showing appreciation for the hard work and dedication to individuals and companies that have led to the tremendous growth of Uganda’s tourism over the years.

Objectives

» To promote and reward excellence in the Ugandan tourism industry

» To ensure the preservation of standards in the Ugandan tourism industry

» To create a platform for the key sector players in the tourism industry to meet and network with one another.

Anyone can be nominated for an award and self-nominations are also welcome! The nominations can be submitted to aw****@****go.ug

The deadline for all nominations for the Uganda Tourism Excellence Awards has been extended to: Tuesday, 10th January 2017 at 11:59pm

There are ten main categories with over 30 awards, eight of which are open to public nominations. These awards are meant to celebrate the achievements of the tourism industry and give recognition as a way of appreciating the hard work and dedication to individuals and organizations/institutions that have led to the tremendous growth of Uganda’s tourism over the years.

The following are the award categories open for nomination:

1. BEST ACCOMMODATION SERVICE AWARD

This award has been put forth in recognition of the contribution of this sector to the tourism industry in Uganda. This award will recognize an individual or company in the accommodations sector within the province who exhibits a dedication to quality service, a commitment to the tourism industry and makes a solid contribution to the communities in which they live. These are all qualities worth considering. This award will have 5 categories.

a) Best luxury accommodation

b) Best mid-range accommodation

c) Best budget accommodation

d) Best camp site

e) Best home stay

2. TOUR OPERATOR AND TRAVEL AGENCY AWARD

The Tour operator and Travel Agency Award was created to recognize businesses that have built a reputation for excelling and continuously improving upon all areas of operations – customer service, human resources and business results. Not only does the business excel in its operations, but see themselves as having an important role in improving the tourism industry of Uganda and East Africa as a region. This business has a vision for the future and staff who believe in the vision of the business and are passionate about service delivery. This award has 3 categories with 1 sub category.

a) Best Tour Operator

b) Best Travel Agent

c) Best Airline award

3. COMMUNITY AND CULTURAL TOURISM AWARD

The community and Cultural Tourism Award is to recognize and reward an individual or organization that recognizes and promotes the pursuit of cultural expression within the tourism industry.

Cultural Tourism in Uganda is the offering of an enhanced product and/or experience that celebrates the inherent value of a community’s culture, heritage, and lifestyle. These unique attributes serve to inspire the creation of skilled interpretive opportunities such as crafts, cuisine, the visual and performing arts, literature, the landscape, historic sites, outdoor adventure, festivals, accommodations and special celebrations which contribute to the tourism industry.

The purpose of the Cultural Tourism Award is to promote the innovative pursuit of cultural expression within the tourism industry. The community and Cultural Tourism Award will recognize and reward progressive efforts which result in an enriched cultural tourism experience over the past year. This category will have 1 award

a) Best Cultural center or Community Tourism Initiative

4. TOURISM PERSONALITY AWARD

The successes of the tourism industry in Uganda have not happened by accident. Countless volunteers, personalities, have worked diligently to ensure that our industry prospers in conservation, marketing, lobbying, and as such have given freely of their time, often at personal expense because they are passionate about this industry. They are true champions of the industry. We have created the Tourism personality Award to recognize an individual who gives selflessly of their time and energy to champion the interests of this industry. This award will have two categories .

a) Best Male personality

b) Best Female personality

5. TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS

It is a pleasure to work with you! This is the kudos our industry wants to recognize and extend to our donor agencies and Partners. The recipient of this award is a partner that has been successful in developing creative and effective alliances within the tourism industry that improve Uganda tourism’s ability to meet its vision and mission. This donor agency partner may be, but is not limited to, nontraditional organizations.

6. TOURISM DESTINATION AWARD

It can be a national park, adventure attraction, entertainment center, night spot or any tourism destination in the country. This award has three categories:-

a) Best Wildlife-based destination

b) Best Cultural-based destination

b) Best Adventure-based destination

7. TOURISM MEDIA AWARD

There are 3 categories for the Media Award

a) Electronic Media

i) Best Tourism Program – Radio

ii) Best Tourism Program – Television

b) Print Media

i) Best Tourism Print Media – Newspaper

ii) Best Tourism Print Media – Magazine

c) Best Tourism Journalist

d) Digital Media

i) Best Tourism Blog, Website, or Social media profile (e.g. Facebook, Twitter accounts etc.)

8. CONSERVATION AWARD

A high quality tourism experience depends on the conservation of our natural resources, the protection of our environment and the preservation of our cultural heritage. The tourism industry in Uganda recognizes that the long term sustainability of tourism depends on the delivery of a high quality product and a welcoming spirit among our employees and our host communities. It depends as well on the wise use and conservation of our natural resources; the protection and enhancement of our environment; and the preservation of our cultural, historic and aesthetic resources.

This award is presented to persons, an organizations or institutions who have made strides in sustainable tourism practices and continually works toward the protection of our natural and cultural resources.

This award has two categories:

a) Best conservation institution / agency / organization

b) Best conservation personality

9. TOURISM EXHIBITORS AWARD

This award will have two categories

a) Best Local exhibitor

b) Best International exhibitor

b) Best Tourism Board exhibitor

b) Best Tourism Cluster

The nomination and criteria will be based on the following

» Presentation of the exhibitors stand

» The color and quality of uniform used by the exhibitors

» Respectability of the people on the stand

» Hospitality of the exhibitors towards the customers

 

This specific category, nominations and voting will be decided upon during the week of the Pearl of Africa Tourism Expo.

10. SAFARI GUIDES AWARD

Guides play a very central role in the tourism life cycle, they are at the center of the service delivery and it is our outmost desire that we recognize and reward them.

For this year’s awards, nominations shall be limited to only the following categories

a) Best general safari guide

b) Best bird guide

c) Best ranger guide

d) Best cultural tourism guide

 

source: Uganda Tourism Board (visituganda.com/awards)