{"id":56439,"date":"2014-04-26T08:11:45","date_gmt":"2014-04-26T06:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=56439"},"modified":"2014-04-29T00:27:17","modified_gmt":"2014-04-28T22:27:17","slug":"sa-tourism-media-extravagance-in-new-york-criticised-as-inappropriate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/accommodation\/sa-tourism-media-extravagance-in-new-york-criticised-as-inappropriate\/","title":{"rendered":"SA Tourism media extravagance in New York criticised as inappropriate!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Le<\/a>It was interesting to read a critical article about the perceived extravagance and inappropriateness of a recent media lunch hosted by SA Tourism and Marthinus van Schalkwyk, our Minister of Tourism, in New York.<\/p>\n

The article was posted on eTurboNews<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, but the writer is not identified. \u00a0Looking at the editorial panel of the online newsletter, one can assume it was written by Dr Elinor Garely, who is the only journalist for the newsletter based in New York.<\/p>\n

Dr Garely writes that she had previously visited South Africa ‘many years’<\/em> ago, and Cape Town in particular, whilst she was working on her doctoral dissertation in international business. \u00a0 Her overriding impression was the contradiction she saw then: ‘<\/em>While the hotels were lovely, the restaurants for dining and tasting South African wines were world-class; it was the imbalance between wealth and poverty that overshadowed my enthusiasm<\/em>‘. Her story about the media lunch is clouded by the memory of that visit to our country.<\/span><\/p>\n

The media lunch was hosted at Le Bernardin, a top rated New York restaurant, at which Dr Garely was invited by SA Tourism PR company Coyne PR to a ‘small intimate lunch’<\/em>. \u00a0She was shocked when she saw the menu of the restaurant and the prices of the dishes, and that the small group of guests she was expecting to find was in fact a party of about 100. \u00a0Immediately she translated the cost of the menu and the number of heads, remembering that ‘many South Africans earn less than $2.00 per day<\/em>‘ – obviously this is completely inaccurate, as the minimum wage in most employment categories is four times that, at about $240 per month!<\/p>\n

Even greater was her shock, she writes, that the function was held upstairs in the private room of the restaurant. She felt that she had arrived at a room that could be the ‘set for the Academy Awards<\/em>‘! \u00a0She criticises that there were no name tags. \u00a0She insisted on meeting Minister van Schalkwyk personally for a ‘one-to-one<\/em>‘. Finally she was given five minutes with the Minister, and one senses that she was not happy with this limited time. Bragging about the 1,2 million global readers of the newsletter, she writes glowingly about how other tourism ministers from Israel, Brussels, and Brazil, as well as other tourism officials from around the globe were willing to share the highs and lows of their position – obviously Minister van Schalkwyk did not!<\/p>\n

The rest of her lengthy article is extremely odd, mainly lambasting our country on the basis of academic research, with no indication that Minister Van Schalkwyk added to her body of information about our tourism industry in South Africa:<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 she writes about our good quality food and wines, as well as good luxury hotels. \u00a0The quality of medical care and education is also praised. \u00a0This is all she finds to praise about South Africa, clearly based on her previous visit!<\/span><\/p>\n

* \u00a0she criticises our country’s poverty, which she says leads to crime.<\/span><\/p>\n

* \u00a0the number of South Africans living in squatter camps has grown by 33%, to more than 4 million in the past 18 years, leading to poor quality of life for those living in these areas.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 unemployment is high at 25%, the sixth highest in the world.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 the poor barely benefit from tourism in our country<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 tourism is not ‘an economic panacea<\/em>‘, and can be unstable in times of economic downturn.<\/p>\n

\n

* \u00a0the growth of the economy at 2,7 % is not enough to reduce unemployment\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 tourism needs to grow and spread beyond the three primary provinces of Gauteng, the Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal<\/p>\n

*<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0the allocation to Tourism only grew by 3% in the latest budget, paying lip service to how important Tourism is for our economy.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 South Africa ‘remains the best kept travel secret in the world<\/em>‘, and SA Tourism is not marketing our country well enough!<\/p>\n

Her final paragraph is hard-hitting, and clearly critical of the inappropriate media lunch: ‘Perhaps the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and highly \u2013 rated Zagat dining should be postponed until the country is able to provide bread and potable water on every table and adequate health care for every one of the people living within its geographical boundaries<\/em>‘. \u00a0It is clear that this journalist left the media lunch untouched by anything she may have heard from Minister van Schalkwyk, and that her perceptions about South Africa may have worsened, given how negative they were already! \u00a0What a shame that more than a million members of the global travel industry have been exposed to this negativity about South Africa!<\/span><\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT 29\/4:<\/strong> \u00a0 At The World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards held in London last night, Le Bernardin was ranked 21st best restaurant in the world<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, its speciality being seafood!<\/p>\n

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

It was interesting to read a critical article about the perceived extravagance and inappropriateness of a recent media lunch hosted by SA Tourism and Marthinus van Schalkwyk, our Minister of Tourism, in New York. The article was posted on eTurboNews, but the writer is not identified. \u00a0Looking at the editorial panel of the online newsletter, […]<\/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":[7,124,266,20,528,22,516,21,19],"tags":[18028,32366,32378,24942,24940,9227,857,784,27,681,11153,24943,1597,791,1783,13,910,1483,2773,32387,32373,53,24944],"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