Tag Archives: Doha

New Vicious Virgin Rum Bar not vicious at all, brings French Polynesian Tiki cocktail culture to Cape Town!

 

A new rum bar Vicious Virgin has opened quietly on Wale Street in Cape Town late in December, the first bar to bring the French Polynesian Tiki cocktail culture to Cape Town. Not only can one order specially created rum-based cocktails, but eat there too. Vicious Virgin is the name of a famous rum cocktail. I ate and enjoyed a cocktail at the Vicious Virgin with RadfordDale Business Development Manager Tom Prior a month ago.  Continue reading →

Chicken or beef: take-off to a first holiday in seven years!

AA flightThe hospitality industry is a tough (self-inflicted) taskmaster, especially when you have a ‘boss’ as tough as I have, 24/7 duty being the norm!

A gathering of the von Ulmenstein family in Ulm, to explore the origin of our family name and title granted by the then Kaiser Karl the Sixth more than 300 years ago, was the impetus for the journey, to which I have added additional Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 4 September

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The announcement by Virgin Atlantic that it will drop Cape Town from its London route from 26 April 2015, at the start of the local winter, comes as a shock to the Tourism industry.  The new Immigration Regulations are said to be to blame in part, but the London-Johannesburg route has not been axed, therefore not making this reason credible.  It would appear that it is an unprofitable route in winter, due to Cape Town’s terrible Seasonality problem in winter, but word received says that this is a permanent route axing!  Tokyo, Vancouver, and Mumbai will also be chopped!

*   Better news is that Qatar Airways is changing its three times a week via Johannesburg flights between Doha and Cape Town to five direct flights between the two cities from 3 November onwards.  The change is justified on the basis of Cape Town’s popularity as a destination in Africa.

*   Minister Derek Hanekom addressed the e-Tourism Africa Summit 2014  in Cape Town today, highlighting how technology has changed tourism information provision and bookings.  In 2011 150000 tourists booked via SA Tourism’s online travel agency partners.  Two years later this doubled to 285000.  He encouraged tourist product owners to offer tourists free wifi, so that they can share their local tourist experiences via Social Media.

*   The Beautiful South, a showcase of 250 wines from South Africa, Chile, and Argentina, will be held for the Continue reading →