Tourism, Food, and Wine new headlines
* In 2013 3 billion passengers and 48 million tonnes of cargo were transported on 100000 flights per day, a World Air Transport Statistics survey by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has revealed. One-third of the flights are in the Asia-Pacific region, and one quarter each in the USA and Europe. Only 2% of flights are in Africa.
* SAA and Boeing are teaming up to develop jet fuel made from tobacco, to improve the airline’s carbon footprint. The Solaris tobacco plant will be the source of the jet fuel, made by SkyNRG. The biofuels are expected to be developed in the next few years. Similar test projects for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways are underway.
* To promote film-making in our country, Rob Davies, the Minister of Trade and Industry, has announced the drastic lowering of the domestic film expenditure threshold qualifying producers for incentives offered by his department, from R10 million to R500000 as of October. The reduction will encourage small film companies to make movies. To date about one quarter of film-making costs have been subsidised by the Department. To promote film-making locally, the Minister visited a number of top Hollywood studio executives recently. In 2013 there were 398 film projects in which the Department was involved, of which the bulk were local productions, and about one-fifth each were international productions and co-productions, contributing R3,5 billion to our GDP. Producers from ‘Bollywood‘ (India) and ‘Nollywood‘ (Nigeria) are showing an increasing interest in our country for their movie-making.
* Bogart’s Real English Gin is set to be launched in the UK and USA, reflecting actor Humphrey Bogart’s love of drinking gin.
* Jeanne Groenewald of Elgin Free Range Chickens has won one of the Female Entrepreneur awards presented by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, in the Commercial category. The awards are made in conjunction with the national Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, and rewards women’s contribution to ‘food security, job creation, economic growth, and poverty alleviation’. The provincial winners will vie for the national awards this coming week. (received via media release from Minister Alan Winde’s office)
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