I met Sonia Cabano ten years ago, ten days short of the exact date in May 2011. We had heard about each other, and connected twice in one week, I interviewing her about her latest cookbook, a story which detailed her background up to that point, a reference to those reading this tribute.
Yesterday evening it was announced that Sonia Cabano had been found dead in her house in Gardens, Cape Town, the cause of her death unknown.
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Good news from ratings agency Moody’s is that our country is unlikely to go into recession this year, and is not likely to be downgraded until the end of 2016! It did warn however that our economy is slowed down by a number of factors, and that our country would average 2% growth in the same period.
*. The six Finalists in the WORLD CLASS Bartender of the Year Continue reading →
The DA-run Western Cape government appears to becoming embroiled in a political battle with the ANC government about the Immigration Regulations. Earlier this week the Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba demonstrated his arrogance when he was called to appear before a Western Cape Provincial Parliament’s Economic Opportunities, Tourism and Agriculture Standing Committee.
After having failed to appear before the Standing Committee in September, Minister Gigaba was sent a summons to appear earlier this week. The Minister dismissed the Standing Committee’s request to delay the implementation of the Immigration Regulations, particularly the requirement that tourists have to apply for the visa in person, saying that he had not been given any Continue reading →
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Michelin star Chef Heston Blumenthal’s The Perfectionists Café has opened at the new Heathrow Terminal 2, serving burgers, fish and chips, and pizzas prepared in the first ever wood-burning oven in an airport, as well as molecular liquid nitrogen ice cream.
* American travellers are booking last-minute, something that became a habit in 2008 during the economic crisis, but has remained and is now a booking trend, despite the recession being something of the past.
* Tourists often are better informed about the tourism attractions and highlights of a city than are the local residents of the city, given their ability to use technology to garner information about and make bookings for the destination that they are visiting. Nick Hall, Head of the Digital Tourism Think Tank, says: ‘So, what we have witnessed so far will accelerate. We can expect far more change, far faster. In this light the rise of mobile technologies is poised to change the industry as much as it has already. Visitors will be innately digital. They will be hyper-informed and seamlessly connected throughout their travel. The challenge this poses to existing tourist businesses is immense, as is the opportunity it holds out‘. While technology is important, tourists still want the ‘reality of the experience, not the virtual reality’.
* Three Ships Premium Select 5 Year Old won gold at the 2014 International Spirits Challenge in London. The whisky is blended Continue reading →