The hospitality industry is a tough (self-inflicted) taskmaster, especially when you have a ‘boss’ as tough as I have, 24/7 duty being the norm!
A gathering of the von Ulmenstein family in Ulm, to explore the origin of our family name and title granted by the then Kaiser Karl the Sixth more than 300 years ago, was the impetus for the journey, to which I have added additional Continue reading →
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* ‘The Bachelor’ Australia is featuring Cape Town (with Table Mountain), the Winelands, and Pilanesberg Game Reserve in the last two episodes of the dating series, in which bachelor Blake Garvey shows the final three dates the beauty of the Cape. The series has been produced by Channel Ten in Australia, in conjunction with the Australia country office of SA Tourism. The publicity shot appears to have been taken at Delaire Graff. Three complete series of ‘Der Bachelor‘ Germany have been shot in Camps Bay in the past three years.
* A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Brazil and South Africa last week, to enhance the tourism relationship between the two countries. Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom visited Sao Paulo to attend the opening of the new SA Tourism office in that city, and to visit the ABAV Travel Tradeshow. Brazil is the last of the BRICS countries with which South Africa has signed such a Memorandum of Understanding. Last year tourism from South Africa grew by 8%, and from Brazil close to 6%.
* South African winemakers are getting younger, writes Wall Street Journal‘s Will Lyons, agreeing with UK wine writer Continue reading →
I was so impressed with the talks in the Event programme of World Travel Market Africa on Friday that I returned yesterday to the Cape Town International Convention Centre to listen to some more. It was a much more disappointing and unprofessional experience than on Friday.
It was a shame that the afternoon session was very quiet for all at the exhibition, having to compete with the Stormers playing Highlanders. It did make finding parking outside the Convention Centre easy though. In between two talks I went into the Media Centre, and was horrified at how rude the security person was, questioning my presence there, after I had used it the day before as well without question, annoying too as I had blogged about the first day yesterday! It is disappointing that the quality of the food at the Convention Centre, which had improved greatly after the arrival of Chef Warwick Thomas almost a year ago, was uninspiring in the Media Centre, with some pieces of feta, lots of olives, cherry tomatoes, green leaves, and cucumber slices (the day before they came with mini pita bread), baby potatoes and slices of roast beef with stir fry vegetables (the day before much better rice and tender chicken breasts), and fruit and a mini milktart, which leaked all its content the minute one used the spoon (compared to the excellent fruit tarts and 
chocolate mousse served the day before). At 15h00 the content of the small bar fridge, consisting of cold drinks and water, had been cleared out, and they were not refilling it for the next three hours until closing time, because the budget limit for drinks had been reached! The day before a Convention Centre staff member announced that no more drinks could be had by the writers using the Centre, despite the fridge still being three quarters full! This all happened despite Natalia Thomson, the PR consultant for the exhibition being in the Media Centre, but she did nothing about the drinks shortage, despite the feedback to her. Continue reading →