{"id":58626,"date":"2014-06-22T23:47:48","date_gmt":"2014-06-22T21:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=58626"},"modified":"2014-06-22T23:48:05","modified_gmt":"2014-06-22T21:48:05","slug":"whaletales-tourism-food-and-wine-news-headlines-2122-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/whaletales-tourism-food-and-wine-news-headlines-2122-june\/","title":{"rendered":"WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 21\/22 June"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

* \u00a0 The organisation which awarded Cape Town the honour of hosting World Design Capital 2014 has come out in support of the City of Cape Town, in countering the claim by Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, that Cape Town had bought the title! \u00a0The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design has denied the claim, stating that it is ‘disheartened’<\/em> by the allegation. Minister Sisulu claimed that the City of Cape Town ‘paid the judges for the Design Capital award, and will continue to pay these judges for the next three years<\/em>‘. \u00a0Sisulu certainly has the incorrect information about paying judges, and doing so into the future, \u00a0She is correct however that the winning city had to make a payment,\u00a0paying the International Council \u20ac 160000\u00a0for the licence fee for the designation<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Western Cape Premier Helen Zille announced the roll-out of 384 wifi hotspots close to provincial buildings<\/strong><\/span><\/a> in the province over the next four years, in her State of the Province Address last week. Working with Neotel, broadband internet will be supplied to 2000 provincial buildings, including schools, libraries, and health facilities, in the next two to three years.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 The Chenin Blanc Association is calling for entries for its Standard Bank\/Chenin Blanc Top 10 Challenge, open to all South African Chenin Blanc producers. \u00a0 The judging panel, which consists of British award-winning wine writer Jamie Goode, \u00a0Woolworths Wine Department head Alan Mullins, Carrie Adams of Norman Goodfellows Fine Wine & Spirit Merchants, sommelier Higgo Jacobs, and Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa sommelier Gregory Mutambe, will be chaired by wine writer and judge Christian Eedes, evaluating the wines blind. \u00a0The Top 10 winners will receive R20000 each, to be invested into economic and social benefits for their staff. \u00a0 The closing date for entries is \u00a011 July. (received via media release from Waterford Communications)<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Award-winning wine writer Jamie Goode praises South African sparkling wine<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, with that from the south of England, which ‘can now hold its head up with the best of \u00c9pernay<\/em>‘! \u00a0Goode selected Villiera Brut Natural Chardonay MCC 2009 and Tungsten M\u00e9thode Cap Classique Brut 2011 as the only South African sparkling wines, out of seventeen, in his ‘Top of the pops: The very best of sparkling wine’.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 Department of Home Affairs staff is being trained in the new Immigration Regulations<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, and in the biometric visa requirements specifically, which include digitalised fingerprinting and facial photography, reports Southern African Tourism Update<\/strong>. \u00a0The first priority is to train local staff, and those in the South African consulates in China. \u00a0 The Department of Home Affairs does not appear to appreciate the dramatic negative impact its requirements will have on tourism, as travelers will have to appear in person at South African consulates. \u00a0Tour operators are threatening to take their Chinese tourism group business to other African countries if the visa requirements of our country are not revised.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 South American air travel could be disrupted<\/strong><\/span><\/a> by the threatened strike by mechanics of LAN and TAM airlines from Thursday 26 June onwards, affecting travel during the Soccer World Cup too.<\/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 organisation which awarded Cape Town the honour of hosting World Design Capital 2014 has come out in support of the City of Cape Town, in countering the claim by Minister of Human Settlements, Lindiwe Sisulu, that Cape Town had bought the title! \u00a0The International Council of […]<\/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],"tags":[],"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