Tag Archives: Peter Finlayson

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 31 July

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   After a meeting yesterday about the controversial new Immigration Regulations, between Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom and Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba, they have announced that some of the onerous requirements will be made less stringent for tourism purposes, in preventing them from becoming an ‘administrative nightmare, causing foreigners to go elsewhere’!   The Department of Home Affairs has agreed to allow any equivalent document to an unabridged birth certificate for children from the country of origin.  More centres to issue biometric visas to South Africa will be opened in India and China, where there are only two per country.   One wonders why the Ministers took more than a month to meet, and allowed so much damage to be caused to our country’s Tourism industry!

*   Stellenbosch 360, the town’s tourism promotion agency, is determined to make every day a ‘Mandela Day‘, and assisted ‘boutique impact investment company‘ Heart Capital in its Foodpods Project in the Kayamandi township.  The project encourages locals to grow vegetables.  Stellenbosch 360 would like Stellenbosch residents to ‘live a life of 67 minutes as opposed to making it a yearly activity’. (received via media release from Random Hat Communications) Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 4/5 March

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Condor is adding a third flight per week between Cape Town and Frankfurt from 6 November, due to increased demand from German tourists in particular.  The airline said that there had been no increase in demand between the two destinations on the Johannesburg route, but that demand had grown between Cape Town and Frankfurt by 7% in the past year.

*   The global Hotel Price Index has shown a 3% increase in the past year, the fourth year running that it has increased after declines during the worst of the economic crisis.   The current Index at 110 is still 7 points lower than the peak in 2007.

*   At the Cape Town Art Fair last week, child visitors were asked to vote for their favourite work of art, by placing a sticker next to it, the most popular children’s choice being bought by The Sovereign Group, which sponsored the Cape Town Art Fair.  A colourful Continue reading →

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

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Knysna Fine Arts will be curating art exhibitions at Grande Provence as of 1 September. (via e-mail from Grande Provence)

*   The Südafrika Weinshow will be held at the SA Embassy in Berlin on 7 and 8 September, with 40 wine estates and 10 wine importers offering 500 wines to taste.

*   Tourists from the USA, UK, and Russia take the cake in being the most undesirable tourism source countries, an international survey has found.

*   Bouchard Finlayson Galpin Peak Pinot Noir 2011 will be served in Lufthansa’s Continue reading →

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

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine headlines

*  Bouchard Finlayson is hosting Pinot Noir tastings, introducing its Galpin Peak personally by winemaker Peter Finlayson. In Hermanus on 10 August (R100), Johannesburg on 28 August (R150), and in Cape Town on 18 September (R150) (via Fivestar PR)

*   French hotel groups are challenging Bookings.com and similar sites for unfair competition, in not allowing them to offer similar low rates on their own hotel websites, reports The Telegraph.

*   Clos Malverne on the Stellenbosch Wine Route is offering a 20km off-road  cycling experience in the Devon Valley in conjunction with Bike & Saddle. Cost is R495 for the bike rental, coffee at the Devon Valley Hotel, and a 3-course lunch at Clos Malverne, on Tuesdays – Saturdays (via Random Hat media release)

*   Restaurant winter specials, the misleading writing by Michael Olivier on his blog, and MasterChef SA’s new Season 2 dominated our Top 10 list of best read blogposts in June. Continue reading →