Tag Archives: online

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 4 September

September 4, 2014

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* The announcement by Virgin Atlantic that it will drop Cape Town from its London route from 26 April 2015, at the start of the local winter, comes as a shock to the Tourism industry. The new Immigration Regulations are said to be to blame in part, but the London-Johannesburg route has not been axed, therefore not making this reason credible. It would appear that it is an unprofitable route in winter, due to Cape Town’s terrible Seasonality problem in winter, but word received says that this is a permanent route axing! Tokyo, Vancouver, and Mumbai will also be chopped!

* Better news is that Qatar Airways is changing its three times a week via Johannesburg flights between Doha and Cape Town to five direct flights between the two cities from 3 November onwards. The change is justified on the basis of Cape Town’s popularity as a destination in Africa.

* Minister Derek Hanekom addressed the e-Tourism Africa Summit 2014 in Cape Town today, highlighting how technology has changed tourism information provision and bookings. In 2011 150000 tourists booked via SA Tourism’s online travel agency partners. Two years later this doubled to 285000. He encouraged tourist product owners to offer tourists free wifi, so that they can share their local tourist experiences via Social Media.

* The Beautiful South, a showcase of 250 wines from South Africa, Chile, and Argentina, will be held for the Continue reading →

Platter’s Publisher JP Rossouw introduces changes to top wine guide: will wine lovers and wine estates be happy?

June 30, 2014

Slowly a number of changes are being introduced to the publishing and marketing of ‘Platter’s South African Wines’ since JP Rossouw took over as Publisher of the wine guide about six months ago. Not all the changes may be to the liking of the wine estates, users, and advertisers of the Guide.

For the first time Platter’s has advertised! Yesterday I saw an advertisement for Platter’s in the Sunday Times Food Weekly supplement, advertising the Guide, with its newish parent Diners Club benefiting from it too. The advertisement bears the headline ‘Platter’s Wine Guide discovers the perfect pairing’, being a self-aggrandizing accolade to the marriage between Platter’s and Diners Club! The copy reads: ‘Platter’s Wine Guide, South Africa’s original and most authoritative guide to who’s who and what’s what in the Winelands, has the perfect partner in Diners Club, the world’s original and most prestigious charge card. Platter’s has always been the go-to-guide to discovering, rating, pairing and sharing South African wines. Now there’s a quick and easy way to also enjoy Platter’s on your mobile device or desktop. Filled with the latest wine news, festival alerts, hot picks and competitions, Platter’s has become an even more valuable guide. Whether you are shopping for wine, wanting to learn more, or need help planning a trip to cellars, Platter’s will enhance your journey. No App required. Simply go to www.wineonaplatter.com to subscribe’. The pay-off line is corny and meaningless: ‘When your thirst for knowledge coincides with the means to enjoy it, you BELONG‘! One would hope that Rossouw was not the copywriter of this nonsensical ad, given his past copywriting career! More likely is that the advertisement comes from the Marketing department of Diners Club, the give-away being that it contains the Facebook page address and Twitter handle of Diners Club, but not of Platter’s, a bizarre omission! Continue reading →

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

June 20, 2014

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is encouraging its members to use IT to improve the customer experience, saying that airlines ‘fly people and cargo, not planes‘. Consistency of customer experience is not yet satisfactory for airlines, with little differentiation. Customers would like to use IT to check in online, tag luggage themselves, board themselves, and collect bags themselves, an IATA survey found last year. IATA’s goal is that 80% of passengers have a ‘self-service suite based on industry standards‘ available to them by 2020.

* PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is not known as a Tourism consultancy, so its prediction about our country’s tourism future is a surprise. Its report presents growth of 4% in international tourists 2013, far lower than the 10% growth in 2012. Growth is said to be solid and good, but ‘not fantastic growth‘. Almost three quarters of international visitors to our country are from Africa, the report confirms. Nigeria would become the leading source market for our country, the PwC study predicts. The Guest House category is the fastest growing in respect of room availability. South Africa’s strength is that it attracts leisure as well as business travelers.

* France must be feeling the tourism pinch, having announced plans to become more welcoming to tourists, English speaking ones in particular. The country hopes to increase tourist numbers to 100 million, Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 4 September

September 4, 2013

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* Chapman’s Peak has re-opened, while the Franschhoek Pass remains closed, reports Kfm News. (update: The Franschhoek Pass was re-opened today)

* Signal Hill in Cape Town may have a controlled access system between 22h00 and 5h00, to control crime during the evening.

* The 2013 Sustainable Tourism Marketing Guide is about to be published, co-sponsored by Cape Town Tourism.

* Travelers in the UK, USA, and Australia use a mix of e-mails (for reminders), mobile apps, and online (to make bookings) before, during, and after their holiday. Surprising is that 70% switch off whilst on holiday, especially the UK tourists. Most of those sharing their holiday information and photographs do so when they return from their holiday.

* BA is introducing more flights between Cape Town and London for the Continue reading →