Tag Archives: Latin America

Corona Virus: South Africa sends medical equipment to Cuba, 200 Cuban doctors arrive in our country!

 

 

In the media briefing on Saturday we were told by Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma that a team of Cuban doctors was on its way to our country, due to land here today. She declined to reply to a question as to how many medical professionals were due to arrive. A friend living in Havana sent me an article confirming this information, with the figure of 200 health professionals mentioned. Surprising was to read that our country sent a plane load of medical materials to Havana last week, including infra-red thermometers, gloves, masks, and hospital bed covers. The gift to Cuba was described as ‘… not a donation, but a modest gesture of brotherhood.…’! Continue reading →

23 SA Restaurants make it onto the 50BEST Discovery restaurant and bar list, but does it really mean anything?

 

It is the season of Restaurant Awards and accolades, and the newest one is 50 BEST Discovery, launched just two weeks ago by the World’s 50 Best, a credible ranked list of the best restaurants in the world. In total, 27 South African establishments appear on this new list, of which 23 are restaurants, ten in Cape Town, and with some strange inclusions. I had to ask myself what this is all about, reading the motivation for and description of this newest accolade. Continue reading →

Whale Tales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 7 May

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has seen only a minimal improvement in the growth in revenue passenger kilometers of 5,6% in the first quarter of this year, compared to 5,2 % for the same quarter in 2013.   Global passenger growth in March 2014 was half that in February.  Most regions showed minimal growth in March compared to February, with the exception of the Middle East, which had a 10% passenger growth and Latin America a 4,7% passenger growth in March relative to February.  Africa was the only region with an outright passenger decline (2,6%), and South Africa’s passenger decline is said to be to blame due to poor economic conditions in our country.

*   TripAdvisor is negotiating to buy lafourchette, an European restaurant booking platform representing 12000 restaurants in France, Switzerland, and Spain.  At the World Travel Market Africa Conference held in Cape Town last week the audience was told that TripAdvisor would strongly focus on restaurants, this purchase being a reflection of the planned restaurant drive.

*   De Grendel Merlot 2011 has won a Gold and its Shiraz 2012 a Silver Award at the SAKURA Awards held in Tokyo.  Entries were received from 33 countries, and 1900 wines were evaluated on a 100 point scoring system. Continue reading →