The Middle East and North Africa Leisure Attractions Council will honour the best achievers in 24 categories across the leisure attractions sectors in the Middle East and North Africa region at next year's ceremony.
The third edition of the Annual MENALAC Awards Gala will be held on March 24, 2020, in Dubai, UAE. It will celebrate and reward industry excellence, outstanding performance and achievements.
The 24 award categories, up from 20 last year, reflect the expansion and evolution of the industry in the region. The new categories are Supplier of the Year, Best Product for Theme Parks, Best Product for Family Entertainment Centres and Best Product for Water Parks.
Leisure and attraction operations that have been operational on or before May 31, 2019, as well as products introduced into the MENA market before the same date, are eligible to nominate themselves for these prestigious awards.
Nominations can be submitted from Friday, November 15, until January 30, 2020.
Each nominee will undergo a strict vetting and judging process to determine the winner in each category. The jury will send their choices directly to a reputed audit firm appointed by MENALAC who will then announce the winners on the day of the event.
“Following the tremendous success of the past editions of MENALAC Awards, we have received many requests from the manufacturing and supplier community of our business to create new award categories that will honour their products and services,” said Silvio Liedtke, vice president of MENALAC and chairman of the events committee.
“Great products are an integral aspect to the success of any leisure facility and therefore the MENALAC board of directors are pleased to accept their request and create four new award categories.”
He continued: “The objective of the annual MENALAC Leisure Industry Awards is to raise the standard of the leisure attractions industry in the Middle East and set new benchmarks for the industry locally and globally. We want participants to challenge themselves in achieving excellence and honour them for their outstanding efforts via these awards.
“With the opening of the leisure and attractions industry in Saudi Arabia - the largest Arab economy - we expect the region’s leisure industry to expand rapidly. The wider awards category will help MENALAC to recognise more organisations and professionals in our wonderful industry.
“I urge industry stakeholders to nominate themselves for these well recognised and admired Leisure Industry Awards. The opening of the nomination process also kicks off our full preparation for the annual gala. The 2020 edition will be a special one indeed.
“We will soon announce the jury of judges and prepare them for the vetting and due diligence process,” concluded Liedtke.
More than 700 esteemed and focused senior industry stakeholders are expected to attend the event that also includes a gala award ceremony and dinner.
MENALAC has evolved as an effective platform of industry players, professionals and regulatory bodies to create a harmonious relationship between industry stakeholders, investors and authorities as well as to spread the message of safety via many educational initiatives and industry forums.
“The governments and the private sector businesses in the Middle East are spending a massive amount of resources to develop leisure and entertainment facilities that will boost international tourist arrivals and help the economies to grow,” said Prakash Vivekanand, secretary-general of MENALAC.
“As the market expands, we at MENALAC are launching a number of initiatives, including an industry conference that will help not only increase investor interest in the leisure industry in the Middle East but also increase interest among larger stakeholders into the leisure and entertainment industry.”
The conference and awards ceremony will be held in March 2020, alongside the Dubai Entertainment and Leisure Exhibition (DEAL), where several international and regional companies will participate, exhibit the latest technologies, rides and new products as well as discuss industry trends and issues.
