Tag Archives: Expedia

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 8 April

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   German competition authorities have reacted strongly against Booking.com, which prohibits accommodation establishments from offering better rates to clients booking with them directly relative to the rate they charge via Booking.com.  Action is also being taken against a similar booking site Expedia.com

*   The contribution of Tourism to the economy nationally has remained at 2,9% in both 2012 and 2013, reaching a total of R104 billion.   Just more than half of the spend was Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 10/11 January

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   SA Tourism is going on another India Road Show this year, visiting Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and New Dehli in February. Franschhoek Wine Valley and Paarl & Wellington Tourism are some of the local Road Show participants. India Country Manager for SA Tourism Hanneli Slabber said that some 24000 tourists from India visited our country between January and March last year.

*   ‘Rear seat kickers’ are the worst type of passengers on an airplane, an Expedia Airplane Etiquette Study has found! Other annoying passengers are inattentive parents, ‘aromatic passenger’, ‘audio insensitive’, and ‘boozer’!

*   Qantas is the world’s safest airline, out of a total of 449, included in the latest Top 10 AirlineRatings.com safe airlines list, which Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 22 May

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   After having focused on Cape Town earlier this week, Huffington Post has included Hermanus in an article entitled ‘5 Lesser-known African wonders you have to see’.  Whale-watching is recommended, from July – November, with twenty to thirty whales being seen in Hermanus on average per day in that period, announced by the whale crier on his kelp horn.  The other wonders are the lunar rainbow in Zambia, the South Carmine Bee-eater migration in Zambia, wildebeest calving in Tanzania, and the Fruit-bat migration in Zambia.

*   South Africa’s premium wines over £10 a bottle were praised at a blind tasting held in London on Tuesday, offering quality and value for money.  The tasting was organised by the drinks business and the Premium Independent Wineries of South Africa, a collective of 15 local wine producers, promoting premium wines costing £10 or more.  Only 4% of wines are bought at that price-point, warned Tesco’s South African wine buyer, but he praised the quality of our wines, saying that they are ‘fantastic‘.  He said that our country’s premium wines need to promote their credentials.    Local wines tasted were Ken Forrester Chenin Blanc 2000, Beaumont Hope Marguerite 2009, Journey’s End Destination Chardonnay 2012, Mulderbosch Barrel Fermented Chardonnay 2010, Radford Dale ‘Nudity’ Syrah 2013, Mullineux Syrah 2012, Mvemve Raats de Compostella 2012, Jordan Cobblers Hill, South Africa 2011, Newton Johnson Family Vineyards Pinot Noir 2012, The Drift ‘There are still mysteries’ Pinot Noir 2012, and Paul Cluver Pinot Noir 2012.

*   Italian anti-trust and competition authorities are investigating TripAdvisor for its Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 11 April

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The MyCiTi Bus service has announced that it is using another bus size for its Cape Town International airport run from Monday onwards, to allow it to use the larger buses on its new Atlantis route, which opens tomorrow.   Buses which had been ordered for the Atlantis route have not been delivered!  It would appear that the City’s planning of its bus service, and continuous introduction of new routes is straining its service, with numerous complaints by commuters of buses not running according to schedule.  The change in bus size impacts on the route to the airport, and excludes certain bus stops temporarily.

*   USA-based Domino’s Pizza, a ‘world leader in pizza delivery‘, with 10800 outlets in 70 countries,  has signed a license agreement with Taste Holdings, owners of 150 Scooters and St Elmo’s pizza outlets in South Africa, to rebrand to Domino’s.

*   Google is looking to accept direct accommodation advertising on its site, in direct opposition to booking sites such as Continue reading →