Tag Archives: President Jacob Zuma

Cape of Love: Wedding Tourism booming in the Cape!

Valentine’s Day is excellent for business in the Cape in February, and this year is no different.  Falling on Thursday, it is being celebrated this weekend, with numerous couples taking a romantic break, and weddings galore are taking place, with couples from all over the world saying ‘I do’ in the world’s most beautiful city and winelands.

Previously Franschhoek held the honours of the Wedding Capital of South Africa, and is still popular as a wedding destination.  Whilst we had seen a decline in weddings in the gourmet and wine valley in the past two years, we are surprised at the vast number of wedding guests we are accommodating at Whale Cottage Camps Bay currently, attending weddings in Cape Town and in Stellenbosch in particular.

Berlin-based Benjamin Pochhammer and his fiancée Johanna Henning chose to marry in the Cape because Benjamin had studied at UCT. Bringing Julia to Cape Town to show her the beautiful city, they decided to get married in sunny Cape Town instead of in wintry Berlin. More than 100 of their friends flew in from Germany and other countries for the wedding, for which a detailed wedding programme had been prepared for the wedding guests, all concentrated in Camps Bay.  So, for example, they played Beach Volleyball followed by drinks and snacks at Café Caprice.  The next day a special party was held at The Grand Camps Bay exclusively for the wedding party guests.  The wedding was held last Wednesday at Webbersburg in Stellenbosch, to which the guests were bussed to and from Camps Bay.  The day after the wedding they guests were invited to an afternoon braai in Camps Bay.   All wedding guests were sent a list of suggestions of Camps Bay and Cape Town restaurants and bars, and recommended tourist attractions and outings.  Roughly calculated, the wedding will have generated R1 million in income for Camps Bay in the five day wedding period, in addition to the R400000 costs of the wedding event.

Yesterday we welcomed the close family from Austria, Australia, the UK, and Johannesburg of Niki Foreman, originally from the UK, and Tom Dirnberger, originally from Johannesburg, who met in London and now live in Sydney. They have booked seven rooms at Whale Cottage Camps Bay for the next five days, before they move across to Stellenbosch, to the wedding venue at Marianne wine estate.  Their wedding party consists of about 60 guests, and their contribution to Camps Bay alone should be in the region of R 500000.

We also accommodated a guest who attended the wedding of her step brother at the Twelve Apostles hotel on Valentine’s Day.  Yesterday four American guests arrived, for a wedding of a nephew, which will be held in Paarl. All pre-wedding festivities are being held in Camps Bay.  At Whale Cottage Camps Bay we are also hosting the Wolthaus couple from Germany for eight days, celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary with us on Monday.

Yesterday the posh wedding of Nathi Mthethwa and Philiswe Buthelezi, with 500 guests, was held at Allée Bleue, the menu having been developed by Chef Reuben Riffel.   It was attended by President Jacob Zuma, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale, and Mangosuthu Buthelezi, reports the Sunday Times.

Cape Town and the Winelands deserve to be named the ‘Cape of Love’, and this romantic wedding tourism should be heavily promoted, as it benefits the accommodation, restaurant, tourism, wedding venue, wine, and related industries.  It is also a feel-good type of tourism, the guests being in a particularly good mood, loving every minute of their stay in Cape Town and the Winelands, and the wedding celebrations they have travelled to from far!

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

Earth, Wind and Fire and all that jazz blows at Cape Town International Jazz Festival!

The 12th Cape Town International Jazz Festival, taking place in Cape Town from tomorrow, is estimated to inject R475 million into the economy of Cape Town, to contribute R685 million to the GDP of South Africa, and has created 2000 jobs, reports the Cape Argus.  The headline act is Earth, Wind and Fire, and 42 artists will perform at the Jazz Festival, half of them from Africa and the rest from other countries.

Last year the International Jazz Festival attracted 34000 jazz lovers over two days, making it the single largest event in Cape Town, said Joey Pather, the CEO of the Cape Town International Convention Centre, inside and outside of which the Jazz Festival takes place.  President Jacob Zuma acknowledged the economic importance in terms of income and job creation of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival during his State of the Nation address in February. 

The attendance is expected to grow when the Convention Centre expands its capacity.   Sponsorship of the Jazz Festival has been under pressure, especially last year, due to the World Cup, but 95 % of the tickets have been sold to date.   More visitors to the Jazz Festival are from Gauteng, with the Western Cape surprisingly having the lowest number of Jazz Festival attendees.   About a quarter of all attendees are from overseas.

The spokesperson of the Western Cape Department of Tourism said that the direct benefit of the International Jazz Festival is R 43 million, spent on flights, hotels, restaurants, shopping and other expenditure. The CEO of S A Tourism, Thandiwe January-McLean, praised the contribution of the Jazz Festival: “South African Tourism takes great pride in supporting this world-class event that has helped showcase our country as a (sic) unique lifestyle and musical destination”.

Some of the acts performing at the International Jazz Festival include Youssou N’Dour, Gang of Instrumentals, Chad Saaiman, Mathew Moolman, Lloyd Jansen, Hugh Masekela, Larry Willis, David Ledbetter and the Clearing, and Bebe Winans.  Some ‘concept bands’ will be created especially for the Jazz Festival, such as the ‘Tribute to Oscar Peterson’ concept band, which will consist of Jack van der Poll, James Scholfield and Hein van de Geyn, and play Peterson’s repertoire.  Guitafrika is another concept band, and consists of beloved local guitarist Steve Newman, Eric Triton from Mauritius, and Alhousseini Mohammed Aniviolla from Niger.   The Cape Town Tribute Band will be put together to do exactly that, paying tribute to the many jazz musicians who passed away in the past year, including Tony Schilder (‘Montreal’), Winston Mankunku, Robbie Jansen, and Hotep Galeta (‘Harold’s Bossa’).   The fourth concept band includes bassist Victor Masondo, and will see him perform live – he was recently invited to perform at the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival in Washington.   The ‘concept bands make the festival unique.  People have the opportunity to see bands that they are unlikely to see somewhere else or in their lifetime” said Rashid Lombard, the creator and Festival Director of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town.   www.capetownjazzfest.com  25 -27 March.  Book at Computicket.

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

Cape Town wins World Cup Quarter Final!

Yesterday Cape Town scored 100 % in being the Host City in which the Quarter Final between Germany and Argentina was played, and will be remembered by fans from around the world, both in Cape Town and those watching in their homes, pubs or Fan Parks, for excellent soccer between two giants in this sport.  But Cape Town had its best marketing ever, with more-than-perfect winter weather at 22 C, and the world’s VIP’s present and sharing their love for Cape Town and South Africa.

What was a magnificent start to the soccer Saturday was the Fan Walk from the city center to the Stadium.  So many Capetonians I spoke to told me that they were so disappointed to not have bought tickets for the matches, but that they wanted to walk the Fan Walk to get the feeling of its fantastic spirit, which they had heard about from others and seen reported in newspapers.    Thus they made their way along the Fan Walk with their families, in the afternoon, enjoying the happiness and goodwill amongst walkers from around the world.  EyewitnessNews reported that 200 000 persons walked the Fan Walk yesterday, a record number.  It was an incredible sight – Argentinian fans wore blue, or blue and white wigs, and proudly had their flag around them as a cape.  The German fans were a little more conservative, but wore their team’s Adidas T-shirt, some had German flag colours painted on their cheeks, and some had even adopted the hardhats with Deutschland on them.    The pavement outside shu and Doppio Zero in Green Point was completely jam-packed about two hours before kick-off.  A massive German flag had been put up on Signal Hill.

The atmosphere inside Cape Town Stadium was electric, from the time the ticket holders arrived.  The early arrivals had the comedy of seeing South African President Jacob Zuma get into his soccer togs and play in a Special Olympics Unity Cup, in aid of the diasbled, game at 14h00, a funny sight to behold.   I did duty as a volunteer behind a German block of about 200, and they had the most unbelievable “gees”, all dressed the same, all being led in singing throughout the match, all receiving a Deutschland scarf which they held up at the start of the match and which caught the TV cameras and was filmed.   They were so visible, standing for a large part of the match (but not blocking the view of anyone behind them) that the German undercover police filmed them (from behind) to have their behaviour on record as evidence of potential hooliganism just 10 minutes before the game ended! 

The 4-0 result was testimony to an amazing match played by the German team, and Argentina just could not crack a goal, disappointing their many fans, who had by far the most flags hanging over the sides of the stadium.   The first goal was scored in a record of 8 minutes after the start, and three goals were scored in the second half, the last coming just before the end of the match.   It was a fantastic match, and well worth any money that soccer fans had paid to be there.

But it was the VIP presence at the match, outclassing that of the England – Algeria game in terms of VIP attendance, that was the highlight for Cape Town yesterday.   FIFA President Sepp Blatter was present at the stadium for the first time, attending this seventh Cape Town match, as was President Zuma attending his first Cape Town match.  Leonardo DiCaprio was there (he had been seen eating at Nobu at the One&Only the night before), as were what was reported to be Orlando Bloom but in fact was Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, sitting next to an unglamorous-looking Charlize Theron (who stayed at the Table Bay Hotel).   Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel came to support her team, and could not stop beaming.  Her boys gave her a “Luftkuss” to thank her for coming to support them when they did their victors’ walk around the stadium.   Western Cape Premier Helen Zille was there, having fetched Merkel from the airport, taken her to see Khayelitsha (the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading Centre, and visited children from the Youth Development through Football programme ‘Soccer 4 Hope’) prior to the match,  and hosting her for dinner after the match.  

Previous German team captain Michael Ballack was there, the first match he has been seen to attend, having been on holiday while he recovers from his injury, which led him to not be selected for this World Cup.   He almost seemed unhappy that his team was doing so well without him, but he did have a huge smile when the fourth goal was scored.   Soccer star Lothar Matthaus sat with Ballack – he has been tipped as the new German coach if Joachim Loew’s contract is not renewed after the World Cup, but his team’s performance to date make it unlikely that it will not be renewed.   Mick Jagger was there, and he, Leonardo DiCaprio and socialite Paris Hilton were seen to be partying at The Fez (above Vaudeville) last night.   Homegrown billionaire and second space tourist Mark Shuttleworth was there, having attended the previous Cape Town match as well, very low key and not appearing to have VIP status as far as seating went – he was with his dad at the previous match, dressed as a soccer fan in South African colours.  

Twitter crashed a number of times during the match, not being able to handle the volume of Tweets everytime Germany scored.  Paris Hilton is an avid Twitterer with more than 2 million followers, and despite her Port Elizabeth publicity, she raved about the city (“Cape Town Rocks!”, “Went to Cape of Good Hope. So beautiful. Saw the cutest penguins and ostriches.  Having an amazing dinner in Cape Town now.  Love the food here”).   These are priceless endorsements. 

Last night Cape Town erupted, and restaurants were experiencing trade like they had hoped for throughout the World Cup.   Accommodation in Camps Bay was sold out – this date had been booked out for months ahead, sadly the only one for the World Cup period, but Tuesday will also be sold out for the Semi-Final between Netherlands and Uruguay.

Yesterday will be the day long remembered by soccer fans for a good game, but also for the fantastic comments made about Cape Town and its beauty by TV commentators.  The endorsement of the city by them reaches millions of viewers, and is extremely powerful in the marketing of the city.   Yesterday Cape Town won the Quarter Final for soccer fans in the city, the country and around the world!  She was the most perfect of a Mother City!

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