Awards generally are presented to appreciate, recognise, honour and encourage the effort taken by individuals and organisations in their spheres of operations. Furthermore, awards are given for the acknowledgement of the contribution made to advance the visions, missions and goals of different industries and sectors. Tourism is one industry that has many stakeholders and role players throughout the world. There are individuals and organisations that contributed much to the growth and development of the tourism industry.

The main purpose of the North West Provincial Tourism Awards is to recognise the role played by industry in tourism development and promotion within the North West Province. This includes service excellence, tourism promotion, social responsibility programmes as well as tourism development initiatives. In the ultimate, the purpose is to grow the tourism economy of the North West Province.

The specific objectives of the North West Provincial Tourism Awards are as follows:

• To create awareness about the tourism industry in the province.
• To foster working relations between public and private sector within the industry.
• To extend the wealth of authentically diverse North West tourism experiences.
• To stimulate growth of tourism businesses in the province.
• To encourage service excellence in the tourism industry.

The short-listed candidates are physically visited by the Provincial panel of judges (North West Parks and Tourism Board and other Tourism Institutions) to verify the following elements:
• Business profiles
• Strategic planning
• Promotion
• Social responsibility
• Customer Service
The site visit panel makes recommendations to the final judging panel comprising the representatives from Tourism Associations, TEP, District Municipalities, North West Parks and Tourism Board and other identified stakeholders in the province. The final judging panel selects the winner for each category.