Tag Archives: Lisbon

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 1 September

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*  It’s the start of Tourism Month, and Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom has advised South Africans to visit the sites that pay homage to the late Nelson Mandela at the launch of the month long focus on tourism, culminating in World Tourism Day on 27 September.  The theme this month is ‘Tourism Transforming Lives’.  Domestic Tourism is an important focus for our country, especially given the decrease in international tourists which can be expected due to the new Immigration Regulations.  A target of 18 million domestic tourists has been set for 2020.  The theme of World Tourism Day is ‘Tourism and Development in the Community’.

*   Coca Cola has won Grand Prix Awards for Overall Favourite Brand as well as Community Upliftment at the Sunday Times Top Brands Awards, as well as Favourite Soft-Drink Award.  Eskom received the ‘Green’ Grand Prix for preserving the environment, and Shoprite was named the top Grocery Store Award.  Other winning brands are Nokia, Tastic, KOO, Nike, KFC, and Ricoffy.

*   MasterChef SA Season 3 Finalist Sipho Mdlankomo has made headlines in the UK Telegraph, for her Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 29 January

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The first ever African marketing office of SA Tourism was opened yesterday in Lagos in Nigeria, by our Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk.  Not only will this be good for tourism for our country, but it also aims to create greater awareness and to attract more tourists to Africa globally.

*   The Reserve Bank has increased the interest rate by 50 basis points, the first increase in five years, to curb inflation caused by the weak Rand.

*   SAA made a loss of R991 million in the 2012/2013 financial year, an improvement on its previous loss of R1,25 billion in the previous financial year.  It blames the loss on the ‘weakened rand‘, as 60% of its costs are dollar based.  It announced today that had the Rand not weakened, SAA would have made a profit!  Cost-cutting efforts have been cutting the Kigali (to Rwanda) and Buenos Aires routes.  All long-distance routes are loss-making, admitted CEO Monwabisi Kalawe, but have to be retained for strategic reasons, such as Beijing.

*   The USA has close to 8000 wineries, of which just less than half are in California, by far the  dominant wine production state.   South Africa has about one tenth of this number!

*   The 9000 participants in the Travel Weekly’s Readers’ Choice Awards voted South Africa as the best Continue reading →