Premier Alan Winde Presented with Prestigious Annual Karl Twiggs Award

Recognized for efforts within travel and tourism

With the tourism recovery in full swing in the Mother City and South Africa lifting its State of Disaster regulations at midnight on April 4, 2022, the Skal International Cape Town club was thrilled to host a members networking event on April 12, 2022, at the iconic Cullinan Hotel. This event was hosted during the first in-person international trade show to be hosted in South Africa since the start of the pandemic in 2020: WTM Africa 2022.

Premier of the Western Cape, Premier Alan Winde, was instrumental in guiding the recovery program of the Western Cape over the last 24 months and placed strategic pressure on various bodies and arms of government to ease restrictions and allow for accelerated tourism industry rehabilitation – in a sector that provides major jobs throughout its interconnected value chain.

Therefore, at this prestigious event that brought together Skal International members and delegates from all over the globe, Skal International, together with its South African oversight division and Cape Town club was honored to present the globally recognized Karl Twiggs Award to Premier Alan Winde for his efforts within the travel and tourism industry.

The annual floating trophy was presented by the President of Skal International Cape Town, Dawn Smith, together with Lavonne Wittmann, Past Skal International World President 2019.

This award comes at a key milestone.

Premier Winde noted that “it was a team effort to coordinate all Provincial resources to fight for every job and every possible recovery opportunity. We value the importance of this sector, not just in the Western Cape, but globally, and while we fully understand the impact of the virus on the health of our people, it is equally important to push for economic stability. This award comes at a key milestone just as South Africa announced the end of the two-year State of Disaster. A special thanks also goes to our Minister Nomafrench Mbombo.”

Dawn Smith of Skal International Cape Town added that she is “hoping to see the industry boom as the sector reignites its passion for people! Tourism is about relationships and the people that work in it, who are resilient beings in every sense of the word, made up of strength, compassion and inspiration. It’s a brand-new day for the tourism industry.”

Skal International was founded in 1934 and is the largest community of travel and tourism professionals that gather monthly on city club level and leverage global connections and networks to promote tourism: doing business amongst friends.

The Karl Twiggs Award is named after the 2004 President of Skål International who introduced the accolade to be bestowed on an individual and/or group that has made an invaluable contribution to the sector.

Delegates at the event on Tuesday, April 12, 2022, shared recovery stories and strategies of the last two years, reconnected at a personal level and discussed the roadmap to full recovery while WTM Africa was hosted at the Cape Town International Convention Center from April 11-13, 2022.

SEEN IN MAIN IMAGE: Premier Alan Winde and Lavonne Wittmann, SkalWorld President 2019 – image courtesy of Skal

MEDIA CONTACT: Skål International, Avenida Palma de Mallorca 15, 29620 Torremolinos, SPAIN, Tel: +34 952 38 9111, Fax: +34 952 37 0013 [email protected]