Mr. Martin Mireku, Acting Executive Director of the Ghana Tourist Board, on Wednesday expressed optimism that in the next five years the tourism and travel industry could become the country’s major foreign exchange earner.He said currently the tourism sector contributed more than 1.2 billion dollars annually which was five per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provided 250,000 direct jobs to the economy.Mr. Mireku was speaking at a press briefing on activities lined up for the 8th National Tourism Awards 2008 slated for August 2 at the Banquet Hall, State House, in Accra.The national awards would commence with the three Zonal events - the Savannah, Middle and Coastal zone awards.The event for the Savannah Zone, comprising the Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions is scheduled for Tamale on June 14; the Middle Zone made up of Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Eastern regions is slated for Kumasi on June 21 and the Coastal Zone consisting of the Western, Central, Volta and Greater Accra regions is planned for Ada on June 28 at Ada.Besides, 25 categories of awards are up for grabs, including hotel of the year, guest house of the year, restaurant of the year, traditional caterer of the year, fast food of the year and night club of the year.Mr. Mireku said the core objective of the award was to recognize and reward stakeholders whose contributions had greatly impacted on the growth and development of the tourism and travel industry.He said the awards scheme also afforded stakeholders the opportunity to celebrate excellence and professionalism in an increasingly competitive tourism industry that had grown to become a major activity in the country.Mr. Mireku said to ensure transparency and credibility of the awards, the jury is made up people from the academia, Association of Ghana Industries, Ghana Tourist Board, local entrepreneurs, Ghana Institute of Marketing and the Ghana Bar Association.He said the current edition of the awards was particularly significant and exciting to industry participants due to the activities that had taken place in the past few months, citing the African Cup of Nations and the 12th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).Source: GNA