Tourism, 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 →