FINALISTS FOR 2009 HICA AWARDS ANNOUNCED

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.

All nominations were subjected to a stringent selection criterion and given that the judging panel was made up of a team of experts from within the tourism and hospitality sectors, nominees did not have it easy. Grant Thornton Strategic Solutions carried out the difficult task of collating, assessing the nominations and facilitating the selection of the finalists and winners.

“The high quality of the submissions and the worthy finalists gives confidence to the future of hospitality investment in Africa”, says Pila Rulashe, Senior Consultant for Grant Thornton. “We are grateful with the assistance of Grant Thornton in the role they continue to play in HICA especially their role of coordinating the Awards. They have been involved with HICA since its inauguration in 2007 and we are pleased that they are still involved” Marobe added. “We are immensely thankful for the expertise and time devoted to the awards by the judges, viz: - Pieter de Bruin, Head of Tourism at FNB; Professor Ernie Heath of Pretoria University; Franco Jordaan of Court Classique; Aneme Malan, Chief Director of Tourism Development at the National Department of Tourism; Jackie Asheeke, CEO of Namibian Federation of Tourism Associations (FENATA); Ben Rootman and Martin van Niekerk from Junxion Communications” conclude Marobe.

The winners of the 2009 HICA Awards in the four categories will be announced during the conference on 5th and 6th November. Registration to attend the HICA conference which has secured impressive local and international speakers is still open.

To register, view the conference program and the speakers, log on to www.hica.co.za. Alternatively contact Ms. Zelda Coetzee on 021 762 1442 for enquiries.

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