{"id":58342,"date":"2014-06-11T18:22:34","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T16:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=58342"},"modified":"2014-06-12T00:15:59","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T22:15:59","slug":"whaletales-tourism-food-and-wine-news-headlines-11-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/whaletales-tourism-food-and-wine-news-headlines-11-june\/","title":{"rendered":"WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 11 June"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

* \u00a0 The visa application problems in India<\/strong><\/span><\/a> experienced by travelers wishing to travel to our country appear to have been dealt with, and the turn-around time now is five days.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Booking for the World Cup 2014 in Brazil has been very last minute<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, with most airline tickets bought in May. \u00a0More bookings have come from the northern Europe countries Germany, France, and the UK, while the Mediterranean countries Italy and Portugal have seen far more cautious support.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 For the second year running the Bordeaux wine region has been hard hit by hail and strong wind,<\/strong><\/span><\/a> the storm over two days earlier this week damaging vineyards to such an extent that farmers want the French government to declare the devastation a ‘national catastrophe’. \u00a0 <\/em>About 1500 ha of vineyard have been completely destroyed by the storm.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 The new visa application regulations for families with children travelling to our country has caused an upheaval. \u00a0New Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom is speaking to his Home Affairs counterpart Malusi Gigaba, and the introduction has been delayed. \u00a0Different dates for the delayed implementation have been mentioned in different news reports, but it appears that 1 October is the new (delayed) implementation date.<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0Southern African Tourism Services Association (SATSA) CEO David Frost is fighting the matter via the new Tourism Minister and had nothing nice to say about the Department of Home Affairs regulations, and their effect on tourism: ‘I would like to assure members that SATSA will continue to oppose draconian legislation that impedes the tourism potential to South Africa. \u00a0As an organisation we support the need for proper regulations with respect to incoming tourism, but the heavy-handed and non-consultative approach exhibited by the Department of Home Affairs is to be strongly countered. \u00a0\u00a0This extends to the imposition of biometric visa requiring applicants to appear in person, which will severely impact growing markets such as India and China. Furthermore, we will work with our fellow associations BASA, ASATSA and Fair Trade in Tourism, through the auspices of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), and our Ministry of Tourism, to seek a more structured engagement with the Department of Home Affairs, where we can assert a tourism agenda in these deliberations<\/em>‘.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 A new frame for Table Mountain, created by Porky Hefer, \u00a0has been erected at Lookout Hill in Khayelitsha as part of World Design Capital 2014, to bring a different perspective on the mountain from the township. A further frame is to be set up in Langa, it was announced, in the hope that it will bring tourists to the townships. \u00a0Not much of Table Mountain can however be seen from the townships. (seen via Twitter)<\/p>\n

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

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines * \u00a0 The visa application problems in India experienced by travelers wishing to travel to our country appear to have been dealt with, and the turn-around time now is five days. * \u00a0 Booking for the World Cup 2014 in Brazil has been very last minute, with most airline […]<\/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":[3,124,266,20,22,21,19,20469,16166],"tags":[25907,20556,369,2145,25905,32378,21360,24108,15745,30,25904,25906,8613,2474,5065,25909,17200,21191,3506,876,20231,4,25908,5,1475,1587,561,25903,32373,10,365,5624,7120],"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