{"id":53778,"date":"2014-01-29T23:02:17","date_gmt":"2014-01-29T21:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=53778"},"modified":"2014-01-30T15:21:35","modified_gmt":"2014-01-30T13:21:35","slug":"whaletales-tourism-food-and-wine-news-headlines-29-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/whaletales-tourism-food-and-wine-news-headlines-29-january\/","title":{"rendered":"WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 29 January"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WhaleTales\"<\/a>Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 The first ever African marketing office of SA Tourism<\/span><\/a> was opened yesterday in Lagos in Nigeria, by our Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk. \u00a0Not only will this be good for tourism for our country, but it also aims to create greater awareness and to attract more tourists to Africa globally.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 The Reserve Bank has increased the interest rate by 50 basis points<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, the first increase in five years, to curb inflation caused by the weak Rand.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 SAA made a loss of R991 million<\/strong><\/span><\/a> in the 2012\/2013 financial year, an improvement on its previous loss of R1,25 billion in the previous financial year. \u00a0It blames the loss on the ‘weakened rand<\/em>‘, as 60% of its costs are dollar based. \u00a0It announced today that had the Rand not weakened, SAA would have made a profit! \u00a0Cost-cutting efforts have been cutting the Kigali (to Rwanda) and Buenos Aires routes. \u00a0All long-distance routes are loss-making, admitted CEO Monwabisi Kalawe, but have to be retained for strategic reasons, such as Beijing.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 The USA has close to 8000 wineries<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, of which just less than half are in California, by far the \u00a0dominant wine production state. \u00a0 South Africa has about one tenth of this number!<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 The 9000 participants in the Travel Weekly’s<\/strong> Readers’ Choice Awards voted South Africa as the best country in Africa<\/strong><\/span><\/a> to travel to, an award our country has won every year since 2008!<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 China has become the world’s largest red wine drinking nation<\/strong> <\/span><\/a>for the first time, in drinking 155 million cases, just pipping the previous long-standing number one red wine country France (150 million cases). \u00a0Red wine is popular in China for its perceived health benefits, and the colour red symbolising wealth, power, and good luck.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 The new gourmet trend is insects<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, French restaurants increasingly serving them with their dishes, to be more environmentally friendly and because they are healthier, contain proteins and minerals. \u00a0Beef production affects the environment, while many seafoods are becoming extinct.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 The European air controller strike<\/strong><\/span><\/a> started today, and is likely to continue tomorrow, in France in particular. \u00a0So far Milan, Rome, Venice, and Lisbon airports have been particularly affected.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com <\/a>\u00a0Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines * \u00a0 The first ever African marketing office of SA Tourism was opened yesterday in Lagos in Nigeria, by our Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk. \u00a0Not only will this be good for tourism for our country, but it also aims to create greater awareness and to attract more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,1918,266,20,22,21,19],"tags":[2158,7862,2763,1806,2152,32378,23643,30,3387,23642,23641,708,22299,23644,534,18379,20836,4989,662,23640,29,11407,23232,910,759,19856,5,23639,562,3497,32373,10,365],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t