Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* The days of printed travel guides are numbered, delegates at the e-Tourism Africa Summit were told last week. The Triposo app was introduced to delegates, which allows the traveller to aggregate real time on line tourism information assimilated from different sources.
* South African hotels offer the best customer service, and it is on a par with hotels in other countries. Unsurprisingly Government departments and utilities are at the bottom of the list.
* Boschendal’s Grand Cuvee Brut 2009 has won the Best Vintage Brut at the 2013 Amorim Tsogo Sun Cap Classique Challenge. Other top MCC winners are:
Colmant Chardonnay Brut NV (Best Non Vintage Blanc de Blancs Brut)
Colmant Brut Reserve NV (Best Non Vintage Brut)
Graham Beck Brut Rose NV (Best Non Vintage Rose)
Graham Beck Brut Rose Vintage 2009 (Best Rose Vintage)
Rickety Bridge Brut Blanc de Blancs 2009 (Best Blanc de Blancs Vintage)
Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel 2007 (Best Museum Class)
* South African won 39 Gold and Gold Outstanding medals, while Chile and Argentina won none at the International Wine & Spirits Awards in London, the timing of the results linking in with The Beautiful South tasting of the three countries’ wines in London last week.
* Smirnoff is the world’s largest vodka brand, and also the largest spirit brand. Absolut, Belenkaya, Pyat Ozer, and Krupnik make up the top 5 vodka brands with Smirnoff.
* Wildlife Tourism is the ‘backbone‘ of the South African tourism industry, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk has said. Given the strong competition from other destinations, the Minister urged the industry to diversify, to offer cultural heritage, conventions, and lifestyle products. The Minister also admitted that his Department of Tourism and SAA have not had a very ‘constructive’ relationship in the past, their strategies not being aligned. That is about to change, the Minister said.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
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