Africa Travel Week 2015 kicked off in the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Monday, and runs for the full week, attracting about 5000 delegates from around the world. The Africa Travel Week consists of three events.
On Monday International Luxury Travel Week commenced, 300 delegates welcomed to Cape Town and the Western Cape by provincial Minister of Tourism Alan Winde. He informed delegate that luxury travel is a growth Continue reading →
An American article guides restaurants with ‘25 Restaurant Marketing Ideas, Tips and Strategy to win in the food business’, most of which are applicable to South Africa too. Local restaurants are not known to be good at marketing their food and service! The list of ideas suggested is as follows:
1. Photographs are THE way to market restaurants, via Instagram in particular, ‘high-quality, drool-inducing photos’ being the best way to promote a restaurant. It is worth investing in an excellent food photographer.
2. Loyalty Programs on online food apps attract attention and reward loyal custom.
3. In the USA Yelp is vital, positive reviews being a massive marketing plus. It has not been heard Continue reading →
I was so impressed with the talks in the Event programme of World Travel Market Africa on Friday that I returned yesterday to the Cape Town International Convention Centre to listen to some more. It was a much more disappointing and unprofessional experience than on Friday.
It was a shame that the afternoon session was very quiet for all at the exhibition, having to compete with the Stormers playing Highlanders. It did make finding parking outside the Convention Centre easy though. In between two talks I went into the Media Centre, and was horrified at how rude the security person was, questioning my presence there, after I had used it the day before as well without question, annoying too as I had blogged about the first day yesterday! It is disappointing that the quality of the food at the Convention Centre, which had improved greatly after the arrival of Chef Warwick Thomas almost a year ago, was uninspiring in the Media Centre, with some pieces of feta, lots of olives, cherry tomatoes, green leaves, and cucumber slices (the day before they came with mini pita bread), baby potatoes and slices of roast beef with stir fry vegetables (the day before much better rice and tender chicken breasts), and fruit and a mini milktart, which leaked all its content the minute one used the spoon (compared to the excellent fruit tarts and 
chocolate mousse served the day before). At 15h00 the content of the small bar fridge, consisting of cold drinks and water, had been cleared out, and they were not refilling it for the next three hours until closing time, because the budget limit for drinks had been reached! The day before a Convention Centre staff member announced that no more drinks could be had by the writers using the Centre, despite the fridge still being three quarters full! This all happened despite Natalia Thomson, the PR consultant for the exhibition being in the Media Centre, but she did nothing about the drinks shortage, despite the feedback to her. Continue reading →
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Research has shown that the moderate drinking of wine reduces the likelihood of depression amongst 55 – 80 year olds significantly!
* About 4000 UK pubs are expected to close next year, being old and outdated and serving ‘indifferent’ food, the 2014 Good Pub Guide predicts. However 1000 new pubs are expected to open next year.
* Is there a future for blogging? It appears so, and having a blog may become as commonplace as ‘having a smartphone or an e-mail address‘.
* The 8th annual South African Food & Wine Festival will be held at Grayhaven Winery in Gum Spring, Virginia in the USA, on 14 and 15 September. Tastings of 30 wines from Anwilke, MAN Vintners, Ernie Els, Fairview Estates, AA Badenhorst, Kanonkop, as Continue reading →
Tourism, Food, and Wine headlines
* Etihad Airways and SAA have agreed to codesharing on specific routes, and more are in the pipeline, reports Southern African Tourism Update.
* ‘Restaurant Confidential‘ is launching this week, a book giving a disturbing insight into the UK restaurant industry and which may apply to South Africa too. It is written by Imogen Edwards-Jones, who also wrote ‘Hotel Babylon’ and ‘Fashion Babylon’, exposing the insides of those industries.
* Shimmy Beach Club in the harbour of Cape Town has made it to 10th on cheapflights.co.uk World’s Top 10 Beach Bars, the only bar in Africa to make the list, reports The Drinks Business!
* South African wine exports to China have doubled in the past four years to 4 million litres, and Pinotage is particularly popular, pairing well with spicy Chinese foods, reports the Cape Times via Winetimes.
* Jordan Wine Estate is offering free informal wine tastings of its older vintages this month: 19 July – 21 July – Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009; 26 July – 28 July – Jordan Merlot 2005, 2006, and 2010.
* A good analysis of the role of (wine) bloggers is written here.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
Yesterday was the first day of the 2013 Franschhoek Literary Festival, and was an action-packed day with good attendance. ‘Cooking up a storm‘ was the only food-related session of the Festival, and was chaired by Taste Food editor and Eat Out editor Abigail Donnelly (left), with a panel of ‘Scrumptious’ writer Jane-Anne Hobbs-Rayner (second from right), ‘Karoo Kitchen”s Sydda Essop (second on left), and Hilary Biller (right), editor of the Sunday Times Food Weekly insert, and of a book with a collection of its recipes. The panelists were unanimous in heaping praise on ‘Karoo Kitchen’.
Sydda Essop grew up in the Great Karoo, and used to travel with her father to farmworkers in the region, as his job was to fight for their rights. This allowed her to enter the Continue reading →