Tag Archives: Mexico

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 20 September

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*  Premium South African wines are increasingly being  exported to other African countries, Nigeria in particular, as well as to Ghana, Angola, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

*   American travelers are likely to rate service satisfaction highest, and the Japanese tourists the lowest, with French, German, Italian, Spanish and British tourists falling in between these satisfaction rating spectrums.  This finding comes from a multicountry service satisfaction study conducted amongst a sample of 200000 travelers.

*   We have it all wrong – the most popular travel time for the UK and German market is August, tourists taking about 10 days off, and traveling to the Balearic islands, Turkey, or Greece in Europe, and Mexico on long haul trips, a TUI study of its bookings for 2013 has found.

*   ACSA is planning to introduce a service whereby one can buy duty-free goods on Continue reading →

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

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Hotel prices are increasing, and are close to 2006 levels, just prior to the global economic prices, a sign of a recovery of the world economy.

*   The Cape Winemakers Guild will accept real time online bidding at the auction of its wines at Spier on 5 October. The biggest selection of 59 wines in the 29 year history of the Auction will go under the hammer.  A Final Pre-Auction Tasting for prospective auction buyers will be held at Spier the day prior. (via media release from GC Communications)

*  American travelers are expected to travel more but spend less next year, traveling in their own country in the main, an international survey has found.

*   Is sugar as addictive as cigarette smoking or drugs was a questions asked at the Sugar Association of South Africa conference.

*   Frankfurt airport saw 5,8 million passengers pass through its doors in August, an increase of 3,6 %. and the highest passenger number ever.

*   As the world focuses on South America for the FIFA World Cup 2014 and Continue reading →

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

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   International tourism in the first half of 2013 has grown by 5% relative to the same period the year before, reports the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.

*   The film ‘The Giver‘, starring Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges, is to be shot in its entirety in Cape Town from the end of September, reports the Cape Times.  Moonlighting Films has been appointed as the production company, which was also involved in the filming of ‘Invictus’ and ‘Safe House’. The Cape Town Film Commission said that the Mother City’s film industry has been growing at 30% per year in the past three years, has contributed R5 billion to our economy in the past year, and is creating positive talk about Cape Town in Hollywood.  ‘The Giver’ is expected Continue reading →

UK market remains bleak for tourism to Cape Town!

At World Travel Market, held in London last week, survey information was released that has severe repercussions for the local tourism industry, in demonstrating how cash-strapped the UK market remains, and how few British are planning to travel.  The UK is the largest source market for tourism to our country, if one disregards cross-border visitors from Africa.

A World Travel Market survey found that a holiday no longer is a necessity for the British, 38 % not having taken a holiday this year, and 59 % have only taken one holiday this year, reports Southern African Tourism Update. It is the cost of taxes (the UK Air Passenger Duty) which is a substantial deterrent to overseas travel, and further rises in the Duty are anticipated, the report says.  Fiona Jeffery, Chairman of World Travel Market, said that British consumers used to travel regularly, locally and overseas, every year.  “The global financial downturn has meant UK consumers have had to justify every penny they spend.  This has had a real impact on the travel industry. However, many now have reduced their number of holidays or stopped going on holiday at all”, she said.

Even more disconcerting is the result of another World Travel market survey conducted amongst British residents that had already been on a holiday this year.  Almost half said they had no interest in travelling to South Africa, while 42 %  were reasonably interested, reports Southern African Tourism Update. Comparing interests in South Africa as a holiday destination relative to the other BRICS countries, our country’s tourism communication has not been seen by 70 % of the respondents polled in the UK.   South Africa ranked third of the BRICS countries to visit ‘if money was no object‘, Brazil and China having a higher tourist interest.  A threat to BRICS tourism could be the SLIMMA nations, the survey found, consisting of Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mexico and Argentina, with investment in infrastructure, natural beauty and high disposable income.

The UK market has represented as much as 40 – 50 % of Cape Town tourism business, and it will be sorely missed this summer.  While more Germans are travelling this season, their increase is not making up the UK tourist loss.

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