More than a year since the introduction of the first onerous Visa Regulations in June last year, an Inter-Ministerial Committee chaired by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced changes to the regulations, tremendous news for the Tourism industry.
The new improved revised Visa regulations: Continue reading →
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* The 2015 Global Finals of Diageo Reserve’s World Class Best Mixologist competition will be held in Cape Town next September, it has been announced in London, where the 2014 Global Finals have just ended, with 48 competitors. Mayor Patricia de Lille expressed her delight at the announcement: ‘As the City of Cape Town we welcome the Global Finals as another addition to our events calendar as part of our efforts to secure Cape Town as the events capital of Africa. The Global Finals have been hosted by many major cities in the world and Cape Town is proud to be ranked among the best in the world. We look forward to hosting the many dynamic talents that will take part in the event’. Councillor Garreth Bloor, Mayoral Committee Member for Tourism, Events, and Marketing, accepted the announcement in London on behalf of Cape Town. Matteo Fantacchiotti, Global Vice President Commercial of Diageo Reserve, said about the 2015 city choice: ‘WORLD CLASS™ is all about anticipating trends, being at the forefront of fine drinking culture and always looking for new and exciting innovations in our industry. These are the key criteria we look at when we select the location of the Global Finals. Africa ticks all these boxes and more; it is a booming and ever-changing continent and we see it as a new frontier with huge potential. When we bring the WORLD CLASS™ global final to a location, it has the ability to fundamentally step change the fine drinking scene and we strongly believe this will be the case in 2015‘. (received via media release from Communication Services Africa)
* The most hard-hitting criticism we have read about the new Immigration Regulations is an editorial from Continue reading →
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Tourist arrivals grew by 5 % in the first six months of this year relative to the same period a year ago, with close to 5 million international tourist arrivals from January – June 2013. Tourist arrivals from France, Germany, Italy, Asia, India, the USA, and Africa grew, while those from the Netherlands and the UK declined.
* The Spur Corporation has bought the Hussar Grill chain of six steak restaurants for R35 million, and will develop the brand, taking it national.
* Tour operator Francoise Armour has written a hard-hitting letter to Southern African Tourism Update, feeding back the poor experience of her clients when they go on a Robben Island tour. Given that the number of bookings for the tour will now increase, she asks whether the iconic destination is worthy of the legacy of the late Nelson Mandela. Even more shocking than her detailed list of negatives about the Robben Island tours is the comments to her letter, in which many tour operators write that they no longer build Robben Island into their clients’ Cape Town tour itinerary!
* Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille yesterday announced at a Day of Reconciliation event the renaming of the Fan Mile to Continue reading →
What a shock it was to read last night that the City of Cape Town’s Directorate of Tourism, Events, and Marketing (T.E.A.M.), under the leadership of Executive Director Anton Groenewald and which reports to Councillor Grant Pascoe, Mayoral Committee Member for Tourism, Events and Marketing, the majority funder of Cape Town Tourism, has reneged on its three year funding contract which was due to have commenced just over a month ago on 1 July.
Last year the City of Cape Town dealt Cape Town Tourism a major blow when it removed its destination marketing role and substantially (by about 20%) cut its budget to R36 million, leaving the tourism body with the job of mainly handling tourism information services. We wrote at the time that this heavy-handed move by the City is contrary to the Constitution of Cape Town Tourism, and the decision was not put forward to its members for ratification at its AGM in October!
Southern African Tourism Update reported last night that the City has only signed for Continue reading →