Category Archives: soccer

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 21/22 December

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   SAA has received accolades from three American publications:  Premier Traveler Magazine’s named SAA as ‘Best Airline to Africa’,  and ‘Best Airline in Africa‘; Business Traveler Magazine honored SAA as the ‘Best Airline to Africa’; and  Global Traveler  magazine named SAA as ‘Best Airline in Africa’ for the 10th consecutive year, placing the airline in the Hall of Fame.

*   The Mirror has an article about Cape Town, and how much one can do in a weekend break from London, visiting the Big 7 (not heard of before), which includes Table Mountain, Robben Island, Kirstenbosch, V&A Waterfront, Cape Point, Boulder’s Beach, and the Constantia Wine Route.

*   The 2014 soccer World Cup is expected to generate $ 10,4 billion for the Brazilian economy.  The FIFA Confederations Cup earlier this year generated $311 million, and the visit by Pope Francis generated $502 million.

*   Cape Town has been the focus of media attention from around the world, for the wrong reason, as the city’s most notorious visitor Justine Sacco flew into Cape Town from London yesterday, just after she had Tweeted what has been deemed the worst Continue reading →

Tourism spend in Cape Town grew by 5,6% p.a. since 2009, claims (misleading) Grant Thornton study!

cape-town-with-table-mountain-and-stadium1It is interesting to see how Councillor Grant Pascoe, City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee member for Tourism, Events, and Marketing, has interpreted the results of a Grant Thornton survey of ‘spend on tourism in Cape Town‘, to obtain maximum PR spin out of the survey results.

While the Grant Thornton study shows that the average rate of growth between 2009 and 2012 was 5,6 % per annum, there were increases and decreases in revenue in this period, the revenue generated having peaked in 2010 at R16 billion, growing from R12,4 billion in 2009 to R14,6 billion in 2012, a City of Cape Town media release reveals.  Fascinating is that the value of the tourism industry in Cape Town in 2009 was quantified at R 17,3 billion, when the City announced the appointment of the consultancy in conducting the study.  Now the 2009 value has been reduced by R5 billion – could this have been done to make the tourism industry show growth instead of a loss in revenue over the 2009 – 2012 period?! 

The tourism consultancy was contracted to conduct a three year study on the Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 19 August

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Brazilian hotels have been found to be up to five times more expensive than normal, and FIFA accommodation booking agency MATCH has been blamed for excessive accommodation pricing for the 2014 World Cup, with average accommodation prices twice as expensive as those in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.

*   Durbanville wine estate Diemersdal has won top prize at the South African Young Wine Show for best current vintage wine, a competition which attracted more than 2000 entries.  Thys Louw of Diemersdal is the proud recipient of the General Smuts Trophy, and they were also crowned the Champion Sauvignon Blanc.  The Louw family has been farming at Diemersdal for six generations.  Bon Courage won the Pietman Hugo trophy for Continue reading →

Cape Town and Western Cape enjoy an egg-cellent Easter weekend!

It was less an Easter weekend breakaway, and more the Two Oceans Marathon, that filled up Cape Town in particular this weekend, an astounding 28000 runners from Cape Town, other parts of the country, and other countries participating in the Half and Full Marathon yesterday. It is probably one of the last busy tourism weekends for a few months, as the end of the Easter weekend signals the end of the tourist summer season.

A media statement received from Western Cape Tourism Minister Alan Winde estimates the contribution of The Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon at R80 million.  It is a shame that the Easter weekend appears to co-incide with extreme weather conditions, the gale force South Easter blowing in excess of 100 km/hour yesterday, being a challenge for many runners, as was the torrential rain a year ago.

This weekend saw the start of another large event, taking place in Oudtshoorn, being the ABSA Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK), running for a week.  The Minister’s estimate of the economic contribution of the KKNK is R95 million.

Other events this weekend were a soccer match between Ajax Cape Town and AmaZulu at the Cape Town Stadium (but poorly advertised), and the Raka unplugged music festival in Swellendam from tomorrow until 3 April.  World-renowned Shanghai-born and New York-based Tian Jiang pianist performed at a well-attended charity performance in Franschhoek, organised by La Residence for the Lelieblom House for Children and the Stuart Andrew McFarlane Foundation for Motor Neuron Disease, and attracting visitors from Johannesburg and London.

Events certainly attract tourists to Cape Town.  It is a shame when they co-incide, and one hopes that the province and Wesgro, with the City of Cape Town, have many plans for events during the Seasonality problem-child period of May until September!

We wish all our guests, staff, suppliers and blog readers a Happy Easter.

Photograph: Orphanage Cocktail Emporium’s Hot Cross Bunny Cocktail, created in celebration of its first anniversary yesterday!

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @Whale Cottage