Tag Archives: domestic tourism

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 27 August

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*  SA Tourism will spend R100 million to market our country domestically, Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom has announced.  The domestic campaign ‘Nothing’s more fun than a Sho’t Left’ communicate that local travel is fun and economical.  Local tourists spent R24 billion last year. The goal is to have 18 million domestic tourists by 2020.

*   The Wine & Spirits Board has revised its definition of premium brandy, following legislation to this effect.  The legislation dictates how vintage and potstill brandies are made. Vintage brandies must be matured in oak casks of maximum 340 litres for eight years or more,while potstill brandy must contain 100% potstill brandy, previously up to 10% unmatured wine spirit having been allowed.   Our country’s brandy industry is worth R3,5 billion per annum.  The changes were introduced as brandies compete directly with single malt whisky and cognac. Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 2 September

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*  The petrol attendants’ strike, threatened to have started today, has been averted for the time being.

*   The World Travel Awards Europe winners have been announced: Yorkshire Best Region, Portugal Best Golf destination, Waldorf Astoria Hotel Berlin Best New Hotel, Zurich Airport Best Airport, Lufthansa Best Airline, easyJet Best Low Cost Airline, and Hilton Leading Hotel group.

*   The harvest in Bordeaux is down by 20% this year, the lowest in just more than twenty years.

*   The Western Cape focus for September as Tourism Month follows the international theme of water, Tourism Minister Alan Winde has announced.  Mr Winde said Continue reading →

SA Tourism Sho’t Left domestic tourism campaign off-beat, not going anywhere!

Sho't LeftRather belatedly the Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk launched a new update of the Sho’t Left campaign last week to coincide with Tourism Month, this time with the theme ‘Nothing’s more fun than a Sho’t Left’, which may leave many local non-taxi using tourists uninspired about discovering new parts of our country. Whilst the campaign may be well timed given the cost of overseas travel as a result of the exchange rate, it is too late to help the tourism industry in surviving what has been one with the worst winter occupancy ever.

The meaningless Domestic Tourism campaign name is derived from ‘everyday South African “taxi lingo”.  A commuter wanting a ride to a destination close by will say “Sho’t left, driva” – meaning, I want to jump off just around the corner‘, explains the previous website for the campaign, which was first launched in 2007.  The Tourism Minister and his department want to emphasise the fun of a local getaway and to encourage locals to take Continue reading →

Tourism Business confidence index reaches normality for first time!

For the first time since its introduction in 2010, the Tourism Business Council of South Africa FNB Tourism Business Index has reached its highest score and exceeded 100, the norm level, for the second time, with a score of 104 measured for the last quarter of 2012, a significant improvement on the 89 score at its inception two years prior.  Tourism business confidence for 2013 is forecast to be similar to 2012.

The Tourism Business Index (TBI) was introduced in the last quarter of 2010, and its 89 score, against the norm of 100, confirmed what we all knew, namely that the tourism industry was in serious trouble just three months after the 2010 World Cup. The lowest TBI was measured in the second quarter of 2011, with a score of 75, the tourism industry at that time operating at only 75 %  of its potential!  The latest score of 104, marginally up from the 101 measured in the third quarter of 2012, hints at a small upward movement in tourism business confidence.  The increased index was reported to come from the increase in domestic tourism, rather than from international tourist bookings.

Tourism Business Council of South Africa Chairman Mavuse Msimang commented on the most recent index, stating that ‘the latest index results provided relief for a sector that has been through two very tough years….. and is a clear indication of the extent to which business is recovering from the recessionary impact and excess of supply it suffered post the 2010 Soccer World Cup’.  One would have thought that it was the low demand rather than accommodation oversupply that has been responsible for the poor tourism performance in the past two years!

The Tourism Business Index is a national measure of current and future performance of the tourism and travel industry, and sub-sectors within the sector.

One hopes that the forthcoming winter will not be as devastating as the last two have been.  It is too early to forecast the winter performance.  Cape Town and the Western Cape are still experiencing summer seasonality, with two good weeks and two average weeks per month since October.  Only February looks close to fully booked, while March looks very quiet to date!  A TBI at around 100 only indicates that the tourism industry is still far from the good times it last experienced in 2007!

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