HAN Chairman’s Speech at the HAN/Tourism Awards Gala: 2 November 2007

Honourable Minister Willem Konjore, Minister of Environment & Tourism
Honourable Deputy Minister of Environment & Tourism, Leon Jooste
President of Fenata, Martin Webb-Bowen
CEO of Fenata, Jackie Asheeke

All invited guests, - and tonight, in celebration of HAN’s 20th Anniversary, a special welcome to all former HAN Chairmen all HAN members,

Ladies & Gentlemen

It is an honour for me as current National Chairman of the Hospitality Association of Namibia to welcome you to this year’s HAN/Tourism Awards Gala, as well as HAN’s 20th Anniversary Celebration, knowing, that quite a number of my predecessors are here to celebrate this very special occasion with us all, starting with Johnnie Hamman, the founder of HAN 20 years ago, - owner of this hotel, - thank you for hosting us on this special occasion!!! Tom Mutavdzic, who served on the HAN Executive 20 years ago, and even serves on it today, Heidi Snyman, wife of Andre Snyman, HAN Chairman of 1994, who passed away in 1998. Brian Black, who led HAN into the new Millennium
Graham Howard, who, like me, was based at the Coast when taking over the HAN Chair in 2001, and Willem de Wet, - my immediate predecessor.

HAN has seen tremendous growth from its 15 members at the inaugural Congress in 1988 to over 370 members today, - and has witnessed interesting and challenging times over the past 20 years, and you will hear of those times from Johnnie, Tom and Ria von Seydlitz a little later.

Ria, the first, and for a long time the only lady among the many male HAN Executive members is a former HAN Personality of the Year, awarded to her 10 years ago in 1997 and we have quite a few HAN Personalities in the Hall with us this evening, from Johnnie Hamman in 1991 to
’92: Tom Mutavdzic
’93: Alfredo Pimenta
’94: Andre Snyman
’95: Arno Janetzky
’96: Jürgen Raith
’97: Ria von Seydlitz
’98: Udo Weck
’99: Werner Beddies
’00: Ulf Grünewald
’01: Alta Visagie
’02: Floris Narises
’03: Paddy Brearley
’04: Willem de Wet
’05: Manni Goldbeck
’06: Piet Swiegers (those in bold are at the Gala)
and later tonight, the HAN Personality for 2007 will be announced.

Tonight is the night of honouring and awarding new Achievers in Tourism.
I am told that an impressive list of HAN members once again stand in line for the HAN Award of Excellence this year, and allow me to congratulate you all for this achievement.

It would seem, so I am told, that when comparing this year’s scores to those of the past year, as evaluated by the independent Auditors, Grant Thornton Neuhaus, the increase in tourist numbers and occupancy rates most of us were able to record this year might have lead to a slight decrease in scores as cast by guests throughout the year, - - something to consider for the coming years, - namely that service excellence remains the key to success for Namibian tourism.

The HAN Awards Gala of bygone years, during which the prestigious annual HAN Awards of Excellence were announced, as grown in recent years to include the HAN Personality Award, the Tourism Trophy Award, the Eco Awards Namibia, and tonight HAN is proud to be able to offer stage for two new awards, namely the Eco Media Awards, initiated by Namibia Breweries Limited, our main sponsor for this evening, as well as the Renewable Energry & Energy Efficiency Award.

And while mentioning the sponsors, allow me to take a minute to express HAN’s sincere appreciation to what has become a strong team of loyal and strong supporters of this Association and its aims to continuously promote the accommodation sector in particular and the tourism industry in general.

Namibia Breweries Limited, main sponsor for the Gala tonight, who has teamed up with HAN from the beginning, and has extended its support and sponsorship to HAN over the past few years to an impressive and invaluable N$ 60 000 in financial contribution this year, to assist HAN in staging this event tonight.

Standard Bank of Namibia, main sponsor of our Congress yesterday, as well as an Award sponsor tonight

All Gala guests have a little something to take home as memorabilila tonight, thanks to the generosity, innovation and passion both NBL and Standard Bank of Namibia have developed for our industry over the past few years, and I wish to thank both companies for this gesture.

But HAN’s row of friends and partners does not end there:

Air Namibia, a major partner in the HAN Awards project some 15 years ago, has maintained a close relationship with us through difficult times, even when financial assistance to HAN became impossible for our National Airline, - and today, HAN still enjoys the full support of Air Namibia through sponsorship of airline tickets of our international speakers, Reinhart Mecklenburg from Germany, and Greg McManus from South Africa, whom most of us had the pleasure of listening to at the Congress yesterday.

Alexander Forbes and Avis Namibia are long-standing and valuable HAN Award Sponsors, while

British American Tobacco has supported HAN as an Award Sponsor, as well as sponsoring our band for our Awards Evening for a number of years now.
House of Wines, thank you very much for your continued and generous sponsorship of the first bottles of wine at our Gala events.

Grant Thornton Neuhaus, with Tom Newton and his team, - for the tedious and difficult task of processing the thousands of HAN Award Questionnaires throughout the year, to be able to announce and honour the HAN Award of Excellence winners every year.

Partnership and support such as HAN is able to enjoy from the aforementioned companies is a major contributor to the success HAN has been able to document over the past 20 years and we all can be truly proud of all HAN’s achievements to date.