The ambience is still fresh in the minds of attendees, especially corps of travel media who could not recapitulate the experience in jiffy at the Akwaaba African Travel Market 2018 that was held in Lagos, Nigeria.
According to AfriTraveller list, The Gambia is one among the top eight best stands at the just concluded Akwaaba African Travel Market 2018.
The Smiling Coast’s name was splashed across some daily news, both print and online media alongside with South African Tourism, Dubai Tourism, Ethiopian Airlines, Ghana Tourism Authority, Anambra State, Lagos State and Air Namibia.
As usual, the exhibitors at the 2018 edition of the Akwaaba African Travel Market included airlines, tour operators, hotels and hoteliers, hospitality companies, tourism authorities/boards as the list goes on.
In reference to AfriTraveller, this year’s edition “had a record number of stands and exhibitors’ and the stands were all colourful and well appointed.”
A testimony about the Smiling Coast stand from AfriTraveller reads: “The Gambia promised to bring charms to the 2018 Akwaaba ATM, and they fulfilled that promise, they brought charms.
Their stand literally brought the Gambia to Nigeria with inspiring messages and exhibits that made you want to jump into the next flight to The Gambia. I haven’t been to the Gambia yet, but the stand opened my mind and I learnt a lot of things I never knew or even heard about the Gambia. I learnt about Arch 22, a monument commemorating the July 22, 1994 coup d’etat in The Gambia. I also learnt about Fort Bullen, the only fort in West Africa purposely built to enforce the abolition of slavery in Africa.”
However, Akwaaba is the major international travel exhibition in West Africa specialised in the area of business travel and tourism with the primary target of hotels, conferences, airlines, tourism authorities, hospitality firms and events among others. For almost fourteen years, different hotels, airlines, tour operators in Africa have been participating.
Author: Yunus S. Saliu