Tag Archives: Stellenbosch 360

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: 12 March

WhaleTalesTourism, food, and Wine news headlines

*   Chef Heston Blumenthal, with South African roots, is opening ‘The Perfectionists’ Café’  in Terminal 2 at Heathrow, linking to his TV series ‘In Search of Perfection’.  The 130 seater restaurant menu will feature burgers and pizza with a ‘gourmet twist‘, a ‘multi-sensory bar’, and the world’s first wood-fire pizza oven in an airport.

*   Stellenbosch American Express Wine Routes attended its first ITB travel expo in Berlin last week, with Stellenbosch 360 and the Wine Routes represented, positioning Stellenbosch as the ‘ideal hub from where (sic) to explore Cape Town and the Western Cape’.   Wine and culinary tourists tend to stay in a destination for longer and spend more, making this segment an important target for Stellenbosch. (received via media release from Random Hat Communications)

*   Transforming the N1 and N2 into Toll roads is being threatened for the Winelands again, after the City of Cape Town managed to obtain an interim High Court interdict against the implementation of the toll roads last year.  Sanral is justifying the toll roads on its need to upgrade the roads, at a cost of R10 billion, which it cannot raise Continue reading →

‘Stellenbosch Wine Experience’ pushes Stellenbosch to be ‘leading wine tourism destination in Africa’!

StellenboschWhen I see any writing by Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, CEO of tourism consultancy Destinate and former ineffective Mommy-Tweeting CEO of Cape Town Tourism, I have to hold back the urge to laugh, not only because of her poor writing skills (despite English being one of her BA majors!) but also because of her lack of marketing skills.  Helmbold has just launched the ‘Stellenbosch Wine Experience’ for the Stellenbosch Wine Routes and Stellenbosch 360, as a joint venture between the wine and tourism elements of the second oldest town in South Africa, with the goal of becoming ‘the leading wine tourism destination in Africa‘. Helmbold adds in her document that Stellenbosch should be positioned as ‘amongst top in the world‘ too, and become ‘Africa’s wine tourism capital’!

The Stellenbosch Wine Routes is the first wine route in our country, having been established in 1971 by Spatz Sperling of Delheim, the late Frans Malan of Simonsog, and the late Neil Joubert of Spier.  Its mandate is to market the wine estates and wines of the 150 or so wineries in Stellenbosch, with its CEO Annareth Bolton having mainly run a PR campaign to date.  Previously sponsored by American Express, it no longer appears to have the backing of the credit card company.  Credit card companies appear to be all over the seemingly lucrative wine industry, Diners Club appearing to have a head start. Stellenbosch 360 is the new name for the Stellenbosch Tourism Bureau, and is run by a very competent Annemarie Ferns, long the SA Tourism Country Manager for Germany.

Helmbold spent nine years at the helm of Cape Town Tourism, never being able to rise to the level of the marketing done with close to zero budget by her predecessor, the vivacious Sheryl Ozinsky.  Helmbold did formula marketing, if one can call it that Continue reading →