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PATRICIA BROWN, KTI Express Travel and Tours, Sierra Leone.

Patricia Brown is a Certified Travel Counsellor (CTC) from the Travel Institute of Massachusetts. She is an African Diaspora Tour Operator and Managing Director of KTI Express Travel and Tours in Freetown, Sierra Leone. She is also the President of the Sierra Leone Association of Travel and Tour Operators (SLATTO). For the past twenty years, Patricia has worked to evoke the interest of people of African descent in Africa, particularly people who may trace their roots to her home country of Sierra Leone. She is an award-winning tour operator, receiving the 2002 Responsible Tourism to Africa Award from ATA.

KTI Travel and Tours is professional tour operator specializing in adventure holidays for international tourist operators and travel agents in Sierra Leone. With over 30 years of combined experience in travel and tourism, we pride ourselves in offering a professional service with highly trained tour guides.

PATRICIA BROWN OF KAMBI TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL, INC.
RECEIVES THE AFRICA TRAVEL ASSOCIATION'S 2003 AWARD FOR
THE PROMOTION OF RESPONSIBLE TOURISM TO AFRICA

Kambi appointed Consolidator for Trans Atlantic Airlines

Ms. Patricia Brown, President of Kambi Travel International, Inc., received the prestigious Promotion of Responsible Tourism to Africa Award from the Africa Travel Association (ATA) during its 28th Annual International Congress which was held in Lusaka and Livingstone, Zambia May 11-16, 2003. She is truly deserving of this special recognition by her ATA peers based on her outstanding contributions over the past twelve years to the ATA organization as well as for the more than twelve year's that she has been actively involved in the promotion of the travel and tourism industry of Africa. She was acknowledged for her substantial contributions to the promotion of responsible tourism within the ATA organization at all levels and is definitely a model of commitment and service to the promotion of travel and tourism opportunities to the Continent of Africa.

She is the Founder and President of Kambi Travel International, Inc. (KTI) , a full service travel and tourism agency based in the Washington Metropolitan Area offering discount and wholesale travel and tourism services to destinations on the Continent of Africa. She is currently a Member of the International Board of Directors of the Africa Travel Association as well as a member of the following ATA Standing Committees: Program, Planning and Development Committee and Membership Committee.

Born in Sierra Leone, West Africa, she has successfully managed over the past twelve years to establish her company as one of the premiere travel agencies recognized by most major airline carriers. In the process, she has successfully organized, coordinated and hosted many travel and tourism shows, marketing and sales campaigns, as well as conducted various familiarization tours for travel professionals and conference/meeting planners interested in the travel and tourism industry of Africa. She has visited more than twenty-five African countries (at least once) over the past twelve years and recently achieved her life-long dream of establishing a travel agency in her native homeland.

Kambi Travel International is a member of the Africa Travel Association (ATA), the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), and the International Association of Travel Agencies (IATA) and her company currently has contracts with the following airlines that have routes throughout Africa: Air France, British Airways, Ghana Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Lufthansa Airlines, KLM Airlines, Nigeria Airways, Sierra National Airlines, Red Air, Swiss Air, SN Brussels Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airlines. In addition, her agency has established international offices in the West African countries of Sierra Leone (Freetown), Ghana (Accra), and The Gambia (Banjul) in order to coordinate group operations for KTI's tours to West Africa.

To further elaborate on her recognition for the ATA's "Promotion for Responsible Tourism to Africa Award &endash; (North American-Based)", the following is an overview of her many accomplishments and achievements both within the ATA organization and with other similar Africa-focused organizations and associations:

In the year 2002, she was designated by the Government of Sierra Leone as the Official Tour Coordinator for the Inaugural Home Coming Summit that was held in Freetown, Sierra Leone December 27-31, 2002. This first-of-a-kind event was hosted by H.E. Dr. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, the President of Sierra Leone, who called for all Sierra Leoneans living abroad to become a part of the rebuilding of the country. She not only successfully facilitated a special charter flight for the Summit Delegates but was a featured speaker on the subject of the importance of the travel and tourism industry to the economic growth and development of Sierra Leone.

In addition, she conducted a Familiarization (FAM) Tour in May 2002 for several ATA members to visit Sierra Leone in order to meet with the Sierra Leone Tourist Board Officials. She has also continued to champion the interest in potential trade and investment opportunities in her homeland and has encouraged many Sierra Leoneans to follow her example and invest back into their homeland over the past few years. She has also employed many West Africans in her travel agency and provided them with opportunities to further expand their knowledge of the travel and tourism industry through ongoing education, training and familiarization trips in West Africa.

She also collaborated with Air Afrique, in its heydays, on the conduct of numerous familiarization (FAM) tours to the West African countries of Senegal, The Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Benin, and Nigeria. She offered these educational programs to many ATA members and introduced many African airline carriers, tour operators and hotelier business persons/investors to the ATA organization. As a Member of the ATA Board of Directors, she frequently offers advice on successful strategies for becoming a travel professional and works very closely with new African ATA Members to improve upon their marketability skills for partnering opportunities with American ATA Members.

She also attends on an annual basis the various travel and tourism industry trade show exhibitions such as the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, England and INDABA in Durban, South Africa. In addition to the above ATA-related activities, she has further expanded the ATA organization's influence and recognition through her involvement with the Constituency for Africa (CFA), in which she has contributed to the lobbying efforts directed at federal government agencies and congressional representatives about the value of the travel and tourism industry of Africa with regard to the implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). She is also involved with the American and African Business Women's Alliance (AABWA), which is an international organization devoted to the empowerment of entrepreneurship between American and African women business owners. For more information about Kambi Travel International, Inc. please visit their website.

Web Site: http://www.kambi.com
1400 Mercantile Lane, Suite 208
Largo, Maryland 20774
Tel. 301-925-9012, Fax 301-925-9211
Email: kambitravel@aol.com
Patricia Brown, Owner/Manager