On Wednesday March 6, ITB Berlin will play host to the 7th edition of the Celebrating Her awards first initiated in 2016 by the International Institute for Peace through tourism (IIPT). The awards ceremony will take place from 1415 to 1530 at the Hybrid Stage in Hall 5.3 at ITB. Julia Simpson, President & CEO of WTTC will deliver the Keynote address.
Three exceptional women from the world of tourism will be felicitated for their achievements and for their contribution to promoting tourism as a vehicle for peace and understanding.
The Celebrating Her award winners for 2024 are:
Suma Venkatesh – Executive VP – Real Estate & Development and Asset Management the Indian Hotels Co. Ltd – for Inclusion and Diversity
Marija Lebovic – CEO & MD National Tourism Organisation of Serbia – for Tourism Policy
Adrianna Kruger – Founder Tzaneen Country Lodge, Limpopo province, South Africa – for Sustainable Tourism
Commenting on the Awards, Ajay Prakash, who assumed charge as Global President of IIPT in September 2023 said, “The awards are being held a couple of days before the International Women’s Day but our champions need to be felicitated every day of the year and each one of our award winners today is a champion. Gender equality, which is a critical part of the United Nations SDGs, is intrinsic to IIPT’s global aims and objectives and integral to fostering peace. It is also our intention, through these awards, to create a network of powerful women across the world in the tourism sphere who could work with each other and serve as role models and mentors while representing IIPT as our Global Ambassadors of Peace and sustainable development.”
Rika Jean-Francois, CSR Commissioner for ITB Berlin said, “We are very happy to collaborate with IIPT for these wonderful awards. The Celebrating Her awards were first organised at ITB Berlin 2016 and have become one of our very important events. Women play such an important role in tourism and the recognition and empowerment of women is critical for fostering peace and sustainability.”
Kiran Yadav, Director of Strategy & Global Outreach added, “IIPT India started the awards process when we awarded 5 exceptional Indian women at the Maharashtra International Travel Mart in 2015, it is a matter of pride that the Celebrating Her awards have today become one of the most coveted and cherished awards globally.”
Founded in 1986 by Louis D’Amore, IIPT is built on two very simple but
powerful premises: That tourism, perhaps the biggest industry in the
world, can become the first global Peace Industry and that every tourist is
potentially an Ambassador of Peace. Through global summits,
conferences, workshops, awards, the global Peace Parks initiative,
consultations with governments and the UNWTO, IIPT has worked
conscientiously over the last 37 to make peace an integral part of the
tourism ecosphere.
Ajay Prakash took over as Global President of IIPT from Founding
President, Dr. Louis D’Amore in Sept 2023 at a ceremony on New York
IIPT India is non-profit registered with the Indian Registrar of Companies.
