An astoundingly busy February has passed and the credit crunch certainly felt like something from the past for Whale Cottage Camps Bay (with 98 % occupancy) and Whale Cottage Franschhoek. March too is well booked, although not at the level of February.
We wish to thank our many guests for their support, and we salute BMW for their large booking for the launch of their new 7 Series, which was in part hosted in Franschhoek; Ester Welthagen for celebrating her 30th birthday with 11 friends at Whale Cottage Camps Bay; the Grahams for booking their family at Whale Cottage Camps Bay for their son's wedding; the Hinds and Pitsillis families who stayed at Whale Cottage Camps Bay to settle their first-year sons into UCT; and Anne Wright who celebrated her marriage with four other couples, all of whom stayed at Whale Cottage Camps Bay;
We also salute our Whale Cottage-loyal guests Mats and Anne Persson, who stayed at each of the four Whale Cottages, while the Koewuis and Bending/Wollen parties and Heinrich Holzer stayed at three of the four Whale Cottages in the past six weeks. Also, the long stays by Frank Seibel and Clement St Georges at Whale Cottage Camps Bay are acknowledged with gratitude. We salute the brave Argus Cycle Tour participants, who battled the toughest tour ever.
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A whale of a thanks goes to Mickey McMonagle, for singing the praises of our beautiful city Cape Town, and of our Whale Cottage Camps Bay in the Sunday Mail in Scotland a week ago -
read more. He did not indicate that he is a journalist when he made the booking, and paid for his stay in full.
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We thank S A Garden and S A Tuin for featuring Whale Cottage Franschhoek and its garden in their March issues.
While the petrol price has been rising monthly since the beginning of the year, the Reserve Bank's 1 % cut in the interest rate was welcomed in February. Another cut is expected this week, when the Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee meets.
Chris von Ulmenstein
Owner, Whale Cottage Portfolio |
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Cape Town Marketing Confusion |
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A recent article in both Cape Town dailies reported on the tender that the City of Cape Town is requesting for marketing the City, even though this task was allocated to Cape Town Tourism six months ago. It gave the province another opportunity to publicly lament the loss of the City's funding of Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU).
The Cape Times reported that the marketing of Cape Town had only been awarded to Cape Town Tourism (CTT) for a six month period, in a caretaking role, until “the city could find a permanent solution”, according to the City’s Theuns Vivian, of its Economic, Social Development and Tourism department. The City acknowledged that it was unable to do the marketing of Cape Town internally. Confusion was particularly created with the paragraph:”The consultants said that while there was some advantage in keeping CTT as the marketing agency, it could create confusion. CTT was also not “currently geared” to act as destination marketing organisation.” The Cape Argus wrote that the City was looking for an external body to market Cape Town. It also referred to Cape Town Tourism conducting this task for the City “in the interim”.
Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, CEO of Cape Town Tourism, reacted to the Cape Times article by saying that “it is a misrepresentation by a journalist of the City’s public participation process undertaken to determine whether marketing and visitor services must be outsourced or internalized in future.” The City had approved the outsourcing of the marketing. “I have double checked with Mansoor Mohammed (head of the City’s tourism department), and he has put the story into perspective." she wrote.
Du Toit-Helmbold did indicate that Cape Town Tourism does have to apply, through an open tender, to be appointed the marketing agency for the City, in order to prevent any future questions about the legality of the appointment. While this process is in place, the appointment of Cape Town Tourism is contractually agreed until 30 June, with the view that the public participation process will have been completed, and Cape Town Tourism can then be appointed on a three year contract. Cape Town Tourism is in full swing in offering Marketing services for Cape Town, according to its contract with the City and the mandate from its members to do so.
In the mean time, the City’s Economic Development and Tourism department has been found to ”not be up to its task”, reports the Cape Argus, and therefore a R 1,2 million review is to be undertaken of the department’s activities. Called Project Rejuvenate, the organisation structure of the department is inadequate in allowing the Department to meet its mandate. The project includes retraining existing staff and sourcing new staff.
MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Garth Strachan, wrote to Mayor Helen Zille, asking the City to reconsider its withdrawal of funding from CTRU. He wrote: “For inexplicable reasons the City of Cape Town has set up a parallel structure to the destination marketing organisation, Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU) and withdrawn its funding from CTRU and Wesgro, the provincial trade and investment promotion agency. “ “This appears to make no constitutional, economic or practical sense. Efforts by the provincial government to resolve these issues to the mutual satisfaction of both province and city have come to nought. I therefore publicly appeal to you, in the interests of the people and the Province, to reconsider these actions.” |
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“The Premier specifically instructed that whatever reservations the City may have had with regard to structure, functioning and operations of Wesgro and CTRU should be addressed and resolved to the mutual satisfaction of both city and province. This could include restructuring the Boards of both organisations, and any other changes that might be reasonably accommodated. We hoped the departure of former ID Councillor Simon Grindrod might signal a change of heart and a commitment to co-operation between the two governments. But no change has been forthcoming now that the DA’s Councillor Nielsen has taken control. It is difficult to make sense of the City’s approach to these matters. How can the duplication of costs, personnel and programmes be justified?"
“In the case of CTRU, an agreement to ensure shared custody by the Province and City to promote Cape Town and the Western Cape as a tourist destination is underpinned by Provincial Legislation, which is now being flouted. Cape Town Tourism, hitherto responsible for tourism information centres, has been tasked with marketing Cape Town on its own and distinct from the Province as a whole. By so doing the City will duplicate costs, personnel and marketing operations aside from the fact that there will of necessity be a long time lag as new staff are employed and programmes put in place. In fact, Cape Town Tourism has not been able to spend the approximately R11 million which would have otherwise been spent on international marketing by CTRU since the withdrawal of funding by the City. “
“We cannot afford the confusion of two marketing organisations. It is impossible to market Cape Town without including the wine routes of the Boland or whale watching in Hermanus. Confusion has been created in the tourism market place and great harm is being done to 2010 marketing because CTRU is now under-resourced and CTT is unable to spend the City’s funds allocated to it.“
“Tourism is the jewel in the crown of our provincial economy. It depends on competitive marketing in a world where international tourists are being lured by competitors with huge marketing budgets. There is no doubt that the City’s moves in relation to CTRU will harm tourism numbers and we will lose ground in the special opportunity to market the destination for the long term that 2010 represents. The provincial government has avoided going the route of court battles with respect to the City withdrawal from CTRU and Wesgro. After numerous failed efforts in meetings and in correspondence and in the interests of all the people of the Province, I publicly appeal to the City to reconsider its actions.”
Strachan’s letter to Mayor Zille is a surprise, as it comes nineteen months after the City gave notice of its intention to withdraw its funding from CTRU, and seven months after the actual withdrawal. The City of Cape Town was justified in withdrawing its funding from CTRU, as a report by consultants appointed by the City had found the organisation to be inefficient in meeting its mandate to market the City and the province. Premier Lynne Brown held Strachan’s position before she became Premier, and did not appear to make any great effort to bridge the divide between Cape Town Tourism and CTRU at that time. In fact, the Province was seen to be the dominant partner in the relationship.
Originally, CTRU was formed to avoid duplication in marketing Cape Town and the Western Cape. However, CTRU persists in marketing Cape Town, even though the City of Cape Town has withdrawn its funding and Cape Town Tourism is designated to do this job. CTRU has a representative on the Board of Cape Town Tourism, and this should allow close co-operation and should prevent duplication.
Cape Town Tourism’s handling of the marketing for Cape Town is constitutional, as the association amended its Constitution to take on this role and was supported by its membership in voting for it to do so. Cape Town Tourism has had a participative and open discussion about its Marketing strategy, and has allowed various tourism representatives to provide input to the formation of the Marketing strategy for the City. Cape Town Tourism is appointing new Marketing staff, but appears to be doing so in a constructive and economic manner, and not building a 'fat cat' organisation that was CTRU.
The Tourism Act of 2004 for the Western Cape is in urgent need of replacement. The Act was designed to legally decree the design of what was to become CTRU. It is an established body now. No guidance is given in the Act about the organisation of and relationship between CTRU and the tourism bureaus in every city and town in the province. Cape Town Tourism’s marketing activities are not a “parallel structure” to CTRU - Cape Town Tourism is not replicating CTRU.
Last but not least, the marketing of Cape Town and World Cup 2010 cannot be endangered by the divide, as claimed by Mr Strachan.
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World's Top Chef in Cape Town |
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WORLD'S TOP CHEF IN CAPE TOWN
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Ferran Adria, owner of the
famous El Bulli restaurant in
Spain, which has been rated as
the top restaurant in the world
for a number of years, addressed
the Design Indaba in Cape Town
earlier this month, reports the
EatOut newsletter. Adria is well
known for his deconstructionist
approach to preparing meals. He
is guided by creativity, he
says, and is himself amazed that
the creative inspiration still
comes to him, after so many
years of owning the restaurant.
His current inspiration is
Japan, not for its food but “the
soul of the country”.
”Creativity is not copying”, he
said, but acknowledged that
everyone is influenced by past
experiences. Adria demonstrated
his controlled gellification of
liquids and how to prepare soya
spaghetti using a syringe. El
Bulli has crockery and cutlery
especially designed to match its
creative food.
Gordon Ramsay of maze restaurant
is making a shaky start to his
restaurant opening in Cape Town,
owing $5 million to the Royal
Bank of Scotland, and his
suppliers about $ 7 million. A
recent expansion programme at
the time of the global credit
crunch has affected turnover.
The first African branch of maze
opens in the One&Only Cape Town
on 3 April.
A mix of top chefs and French
champagnes and Cap Classiques
from Franschhoek are on the menu
in Franschhoek for an indulgent
“Chefs & Champagne” weekend from
27 - 29 March. Chefs and their
restaurants have been matched
with Champagne and Cap Classique
brands, and will be offering
private chef’s table dinners and
lunches, reflecting the “lavish
lifestyle” of Franschhoek, the
ad for the event says. So, for
example, Le Franschhoek is
serving a five course dinner
with Pierre Jourdan for just 18
persons, at R 720 per head, on
27 March. Mange Tout at Mont
Rochelle is serving a 5 course
dinner for 20 persons with
Billecart Salmon Champagne, the
most expensive dinner of them
all, at R 1 350 per head, on 27
March. Ruebens is pairing with
Graham Beck and serving a 6
course lunch on 29 March at R
940 per head, for 20 persons.
Bookings can be made by
e-mailing Darielle at
events@franschhoek.org.za.
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The second Taste of Cape Town
food show will be hosted from 2 - 5 April at the Jan van Riebeeck
sportsfield off Kloofnek Road in Tamboerskloof. Chef and writer Justine
Drake is co-ordinating the event again. Eighteen top restaurants,
including Reubens, Aubergine, Bouillabaisse, Crepe Suzette, Jardine, La
Colombe, Nova, Overture, and Terroir, many of these on the EatOut top
ten restaurant list, will display their fine food fare, alongside
premium drink brands and live entertainment.
The ‘Taste of Cape Town’
event will include a Pick ‘n Pay Fresh Living Chef’s Theatre, a Beer
Academy at which food and beer pairing will be done, and the Checkers
Wine Route Taste Experience.
More details can be obtained from
www.tasteofcapetown.com. Entrance costs
R 170, inclusive of tasting vouchers, or R 80 without the tasting
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Madame Zingara is dead! The
‘Theatre of Dreams’ circus
theatre restaurant, which was
created as a result of a fire in
the original Madame Zingara
premises in Loop Street in Cape
Town, went into final
liquidation earlier this month.
Madame Zingara owner and
“ringmaster', Richard Griffin,
appears to have over-extended
himself, in taking his Madame
Zingara to London in December,
at the same time that he opened
Mojolena, a sister theatre
restaurant, but on a much
smaller scale, in Cape Town, so
that he could continue employing
the staff that could not get
visas to go to the UK. His
backers in the UK pulled out due
to the credit crunch, while
unpaid debts in Cape Town led to
the liquidation.
Whilst Madame Zingara opened to
sold-out nights at the Battersea
Power Station in London in
December, it was a fantastic
“advertisement” for South
African creativity, and the
culinary and cultural marriage.
However, the marketing damage of
the closure in London is bad for
the country, as the Time Out
website, which had featured a
very favourable review, is
filled with comments from
persons who had booked and paid
for the dinner and show, but who
do not appear to be able to
receive their money back.
Griffin’s South African origin
is mentioned in the comments.
Griffin has had his share of bad
luck. The first Madame Zingara
restaurant, which opened in Loop
Street eight years ago, was
destroyed by a fire, which
challenged Griffin to buy a
Spiegelpaleis circus tent in
Belgium and set up his Theatre
of Dreams underneath the highway
at the entrance to the port in
Cape Town.
Melbourne restaurant Rusk will
be serving Cape Food for a
dinner it is serving during the
Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
this month, reports the
Australian Hospitality magazine.
Rusk owner, Lance Rosen, is a
South African who draws on the
Cape Malay heritage of South
African food, which he calls
“Cape Food”. He recently visited
his mentor Cass Abrahams, who
has a Cape Malay restaurant on
the Seidelberg wine estate
outside Paarl. S A Tourism has
appointed Rosen as a Food
Ambassador for South Africa, and
he will cook for a S A Tourism
cocktail party and lunch for
travel media from Australia, New
Zealand and South East Asia.
Rosen’s menu will include
biltong, “boebotie”, ‘frikadelle”,
“sosaties”, tipsy tart and “koeksusters”.
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S A Tourism Loses its Head |
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Bad news for the marketing of South
Africa, especially with 2010 lying
ahead, is that Moeketsi Mosola has
resigned as CEO of S A Tourism, reports
TravelHub. A report in The Mercury
speculates that Mosola had to leave as
he has been a volunteer for COPE, the
new political party contesting the
general election next month, since
November. Mosola will be the Elections
Manager for COPE, reports the Mail &
Guardian. With just 15 months to go
before World Cup 2010, Mosola’s
departure is most unfortunate at the
most crucial time of South Africa’s
international marketing for what will be
the biggest sport event it has ever
hosted. Mosola had served at the helm of
S A Tourism for eight years, and was
impressive for speaking his mind. He was
critical of the industry when necessary.
Didi Moyle, the COO, will take over as
acting CEO with immediate effect.
Frommer’s travel guides have selected
Cape Town as one of their top twelve
destinations, described as “value picks
that’ll wow you”, reports
www.sagoodnews.co.za. The publishers
write about Cape Town: “South Africa is
gearing up to host the world's best
football (or soccer, if you’re from the
U.S.) teams during the 2010 World Cup,
and Cape Town promises to have one of
the grandest venues for the event. Get
here before the crowds do to take
advantage of a spruced-up city.
Truthfully, though, the city has one big
advantage: Cape Town, the oldest city in
southern Africa, is regularly heralded
as one of the most beautiful on earth.
The massive sandstone bulk of Table
Mountain, often draped in a flowing
“tablecloth” of clouds, forms an
imposing backdrop, while minutes away,
pristine sandy beaches line the
cliff-hugging coast where the Indian and
Atlantic Oceans meet. You can visit
African Penguin colonies at Boulders
Beach along False Bay or take the ferry
to Robben Island, the former prison home
to political prisoners such as Nelson
Mandela.”
The other destinations on the Frommer’s
top list are Belfast, Berlin, Waiheke
Island in New Zealand, Istanbul,
Cambodia, Cartegena in Columbia, Lassen
Volcanic National Park in Alberta in
Canada, the Civil Rights Trail from
Selma to Montgomery in Alabama in the
USA, Saggara in Egypt, Washington DC,
and Waterston Lakes National Park in
Alberta in Canada.
S A Tourism’s advertising campaign for
South Africa has won an international
advertising award for CNN. The
International Awards for Innovation in
Media awarded a gold award to the S A
Tourism promotion run on CNN, called “My
South Africa”. Viewers were asked to
send photographs, moving images and
stories that reflected their experiences
of South Africa, which were featured on
the “My South Africa” website.
Call-to-action vignettes were also
created, the first featuring well-known
singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka. The campaign
is to be used as a case study at Oxford
University’s Business School. The
campaign will run until 2010, to support
the World Cup.
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Matt Damon was the most high-profile VIP
riding in the Cape Argus Pick ‘n Pay
Cycle Tour, together with 35 000 other
cyclists. The Cape Argus reports that
Francois Pienaar, ex-Springbok Rugby
captain, inspired Damon to participate
in the Cycle Race. Damon plays Pienaar
in the movie ‘The Human Factor’, which
is about the 1995 Rugby World Cup win
for South Africa, and is being filmed in
Cape Town at the moment.
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The Cycle Tour has been successfully
hosted in Cape Town for many years, and
is estimated to have contributed R 400
million to the economy of Cape Town and
the Western Cape through entry fees,
accommodation and restaurant costs, and
travel costs. Part of the monies
generated by the race will go to
charities. The Tour also plays an
important tourism marketing role for the
city and its environs. Scenic Chapman’s
Peak was re-opened especially for the
Argus Cycle Tour. Race participants had
to sign a special indemnity, and agree
to use the road at their own risk. The
reason for the continued delays in
re-opening Chapman’s Peak, a popular
tourism route, and important link to the
city for Noordhoek residents, is to be
investigated.
Prince Albert of Monaco chose Fresnaye
in Cape Town as the location for the
celebration of his South African
girlfriend Charlene Wittstock's 31st
birthday in Fresnaye on 25 January,
reports Bunte, Germany’s leading society
magazine. The hoped-for engagement did
not happen. The Prince’s party was
disrupted by the police at 2 am, after
neighbours in the suburb complained
about the noise. The magazine shows a
photograph of the Prince’s friend’s
house, high up in Fresnaye, and also a
photograph of Clifton beach, which it
says can be seen from the friend’s
house, but this is not possible!
The author of ‘Q & A’, Vikas Swarup,
Deputy High Commissioner for India in
South Africa, will be one of the
speakers at the third Franschhoek
Literary Festival, to be held from 15 –
17 May. His book was the inspiration for
the Oscar and other film industry
award-winning movie ‘Slumdog
Millionaire’. The book tells the story
of an orphan from the backstreets of
Mumbai who is falsely accused of
cheating in a television game show.
Swarup’s novel ‘Q&A’ has won various
accolades.
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Cabernet Sauvignon Receives Highest Praise
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“Forgive me if I’m excited, but I can’t
help it. I want to tell you straight out
that South Africa, of all places, is one
of the greatest sources for moderately
priced cabernet sauvignon on the planet
today”. So began Eric Asimov’s story in
praise of this country’s Cabernet
Sauvignon wines in the 21 January
edition of the New York Times. Asimov’s
verdict resulted from a tasting of 25
South African Cabernet Sauvignon wines,
he and his panel voting the De Trafford
2004 as the top scorer, followed by the
2004 Rust en Vrede, and the 2003 One
Stroke One from Graceland. The remaining
top ten Cabernet Sauvignons, were 2004
Bon Cap, 2004 Thelema, 2004 Neil Ellis,
2004 Bilton, 2005 Waterford, 2005 Alto,
and 2005 Stark-Conde Jonkershoek Valley
Twin Peak. All but the Bon Cap are from
Stellenbosch.
Asimov was less kind to Boekenhoutskloof
: ” …the 2006 Boekenhoutskloof cabernet
from the Franschhoek region was, at $
47, the most expensive wine in our
tasting. While the winemaker is
critically acclaimed, we rejected the
wine for its generic vanilla-cherry
cheesecake flavours, which I often taste
in New World red wines that are intended
to please an international audience.”
Asimov, a wine critic not easily
pleased, is somewhat sceptical about the
future of South Africa’s wines. “Yet the
track record is slim. We don’t know yet
how these wines will age. Many of these
producers are too new to have shown
consistency over time.” Yet, he says
that “South Africa has the potential for
greatness. In the snapshot offered by
these 25 bottles, we found a region
offering wonderful values and lovely
wines.” Wines of South Africa (WOSA) are
delighted with the article, and say that
it should have a strong impact on
marketing South Africa’s relatively
unknown wines in the USA.
Franschhoek’s Rupert & Rothschild
Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon has been
selected as the third most successful
wine in Germany, reports The Big Pond blog.
Weinwirtschaft published a list of
“the 100 Most Successful Wines of 2008”,
and three South African wines made the
list – the Rupert & Rothschild,
Nederburg Merlot Foundation at number
23, and KWV’s Roodeberg at number 58.
The criteria for being judged was wine
sales in Germany of 10 000 bottles or
more. Seven hundred wines were submitted
for judging on sales success, value for
money, and marketing image.
Franschhoek winery Solms-Delta was one
of two South African wine estates
featured in the third programme of a BBC
Four documentary series called ‘Wine’
earlier this month, reports
www.blog.winecountry.co.za. “Called
“WINE: The Future”, the episode focused
on two wine producers who are each
re-tooling post-apartheid South Africa
on their own respective estates”. The
segment follows the story of Mark Solms,
a world-renowned neuroscientist who has
brought black empowerment and sweeping
social changes to a 320-year-old farm.
The colourful culmination is a
Franschhoek valley first: a Harvest
Festival for the workers hosted by the
farm’s owners, complete with the
vernacular music of the rural Cape. A
performance by the farm’s very own Delta
Optel Band is a touching high point.”
says the website. “It’s hard not to be
moved by what the two South African
wineries, both at least partially black
owned, are trying to achieve,” said The
Observer wine writer Tim Aitkin, after
watching a preliminary screening.
The wines of Solms-Delta have received
positive nods from several UK wine
writers. Solms-Hegewisch Africana 2005
was included by Neil Beckett in his
“1001 Wines You Must Taste Before You
Die”. Wine critic Jancis Robinson
includes Solms Hiervandaan (2004) among
her ‘Franschhoek favourites’. Writing in
the Financial Times, she says: ““Mark Solms … has fast drawn attention to the
Solms-Delta winery on his family
property on the road in to Franschhoek
since he moved back there from London
five years ago … With ex-Boschendal
winemaker Hilko Hegewisch, Solms is …
experimenting with winemaking techniques
suggested by his reading of ancient
texts – which makes for some seriously
distinctive wines.”
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The other estate featured in the
programme was M’hudi Wines, owned by
Oupa Rangaka. The BBC website claims
that Oupa is the “only black people to
own a vineyard in South Africa’, which
is not true, as Tokyo Sexwale is the
proud owner of the Oude Kelder wine
estate in Franschhoek.
The 2008 Paul Cluver Noble Late Harvest
from Elgin has been selected as the top
South African Riesling at a recent Just
Riesling winetasting, with local and
German judges on the panel. Just
Riesling has been established to
increase the profile of Riesling, and to
communicate how suited it is for “the
South African way of life, climate and
cuisine”, reports the Hermanus Times.
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The hospitality industry in Cape Town is
up in arms about the proposed changes to
the by-law the City of Cape Town is
wishing to make to liquor trading days
and hours. The City has the right to
stipulate the trading hours of alcoholic
beverage sales, in accordance with the
recently promulgated Western Cape Liquor
Act. The proposed by-law regulates that
B & B’s and guest houses that are
situated in residential areas, that have
not been rezoned for commercial use, may
not sell any alcohol at all. Those that
are located in “local/neighbourhood
business areas/nodes (including mixed
use areas consisting of single/general
residential interspersed with business
uses)” may sell alcohol from 11h00 –
23h00, as are hotels, pubs, restaurants
and even supermarkets. Accommodation
establishments in the CBD are allowed to
sell alcohol from 11h00 – 2h00. Wine
farms are only allowed to sell alcohol
from 9h00 – 18h00, closing off the very
lucrative weddings market to them.
The
by-law changes are designed to reduce
alcohol abuse and violence against women
and children induced by alcohol abuse,
the City says.
Both
FEDHASA Cape and SATSA have requested
the City publicly to reconsider its
by-law, in that some of its members
would have to close their alcohol sales
at 21h00 if they are located in
predominantly residential areas. FEDHASA
said that the City has not consulted the
association, and that the proposed
by-law will damage Cape Town’s image as
a world-class destination, especially in
view of the city hosting the 2010 World
Cup, and many international tourists
preferring to eat later rather than
early.. It also says that patrons will
stock up on alcohol prior to the 21h00
deadline, to last them throughout the
evening, which could lead to
binge-drinking, which is exactly what
the City wishes to avoid. Alternatively,
more restaurant patrons could be
bringing their own wines, to get around
the by-law, which is disadvantageous to
the profitability of restaurants. SATSA
says that it does not believe that the
proposed trading hours will solve the
social problems related to alcohol
abuse, and invited the City to consult
with the tourism industry before passing
the by-law.
The
by-law could set an unwanted precedent
for municipalities in the Western Cape
to follow the example of the City of
Cape Town, in a province that has
tourism as its major source of revenue.
It has a further problem in that the
definitions of “B & B’s” and “guest
houses”, and the criteria for rezoning,
are very vague. Another department in
the City is working on these criteria,
having received input from industry
players early last year, but its final
unified rezoning policy for Cape Town is
yet to be seen. The City is considering
the considerable input it received in a
public participation process about the
draft by-law, most of which was
negative.
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2010 Tickets Sales Kick Off |
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More than 200 000 FIFA 2010 World
Cup tickets were sold within the
first 24 hours of ticket sales going
live on-line last month, and
the majority were sold to South
Africans, reports the Sunday Argus.
This figure excludes applications
for tickets via branches of First
National Bank.
Ticket applications came from 125
countries, and the highest number of
applications, after those from South
Africa, were from the UK, the USA,
Germany, Brazil, Australia, Japan,
Mexico, Canada, Switzerland,
Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and
Argentina. The ticket sales are by
application, and the successful
applicants for the first round of
ticket sales until the end of March
will be notified in April. South
Africans are eligible to buy 15 % of
the 3 million tickets via the
www.fifa.com website, or to go to a
branch of First National Bank, where
they can fill in an application
form. The prices of tickets have
been kept low for South Africans,
and range from R 140 for category 4
matches to R 6 300 for the final.
The ticket sales are by application,
chosen on a random ballot. In
Germany the World Cup 2006 ticket
applications were oversubscribed
more than 20-fold. Each person may
only apply for a maximum of four
tickets per match, for a maximum of
seven matches. Further ticket sales
open on 4 May, 5 December and 9
February 2010. FIFA’s David Will,
chairman of the ticketing committee,
said that the impact of the global
credit crunch on ticket sales for
2010 is uncertain.
FIFA has expressed its satisfaction
with the ticket application
response. It appears less happy with
the low level of Confederations Cup
ticket sales, given that the Cup
will be contested in South Africa in
three months from now. Ticket sales
for the Confederations Cup, due to
be hosted in South Africa from 14
June this year, are slow, with less
than a third of the 646 000 tickets
sold to date. The Confederations Cup
is a “warm-up” for the 2010 World
Cup, and will be contested in
Johannesburg, Pretoria,
Bloemfontein, and Rustenburg.
Countries that will play are the
USA, Spain, Brazil, Iraq, New
Zealand, Egypt and South Africa.
FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke
has criticised South Africa for the
poor marketing of the event,
especially at public spaces such as
airports.
The head of the 2010 World Cup Local
Organising Committee, Danny Jordaan,
has appealed to the hospitality
industry to charge fair prices for
the largest sport event ever to be
hosted in South Africa, reports Engineering News. Jordaan urged the
tourism industry to see the 2010
World Cup as a window for the world
to experience South Africa, and to
help achieve the target of 19
million visitors by 2015. He
cautioned the industry against
seeing the 2010 World Cup as a
once-off “windfall”, and it should
not seek to “profiteer” from the
event. Opportunistic price increases
over the time of the event could
damage repeat business and referrals
from soccer fans. |
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He also stated that South Africa was
hoping to attract 450 000 visitors
to the 2010 World Cup, ambitious
relative to the 284 000 visitors
that attended the Sydney Olympics.
From a marketing perspective, the 32
participating teams will attract
attention to South Africa, many of
the teams coming from markets
previously not receiving marketing
attention from S A Tourism. Jordaan
reiterated that South Africa is
ready for 2010, and that “Plan B is
dead”. All new 2010 World Cup stadia
will be completed by the end of this
year, which is better timing than
that achieved by Germany in 2006.
Germany’s most prominent society
magazine Bunte has started a South
Africa blog, in preparation for the
2010 World Cup. The magazine has a
large and high profile readership,
and the new blog should have a
strong marketing benefit for the
country. However, the blog writer,
whilst a guest of S A Tourism, is
not completely positive, if one
reads his first two posts. Although
advertised as being a daily blog,
only two posts have appeared since 5
March. The first post praises the
one-hour time shift between Germany
and South Africa; describes an
uncomfortable night’s sleep on SAA;
covers a visit to the newly built
Rustenburg stadium, which makes the
writer question whether the
construction will be completed in
time for June 2010, but is assured
by the construction management that
he should not be concerned; and his
stay-over at The Lost City, which
the writer refers to as a South
African “Disneyland”, he questions
whether it is not a little too
“kitschig” and comments about the
note in the room that he has to
close his windows to prevent monkeys
from getting into his room at night!
The second post describes a safari
in the Pilansberg game reserve, and
that he does not get to see lions;
and refers to a soccer match between
Orlando Pirates against Bay United,
at Ellis Park, in which match the
referee allows 8 minutes of extra
time, on which the writer comments
cynically, as he does about hardly
seeing any whites attending the
match, and refers to the stampede at
the stadium in 2001, in which 43
persons died!
Read more.
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Sweet & Sour Service Awards |
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Three months ago the
Sweet & Sour Service Awards were
introduced on the Whale Cottage
Portfolio blog
www.whalecottage.com/blog.
Nominations for Sweet and Sour Service
Awards are welcomed , and can be sent to
info@whalecottage.com.
Recent Sweet Service Award
winners are:
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Cape Stay, for reversing
a decision to split Camps Bay
into two on its website -
read more |
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Mercedes-Benz Culemborg,
for offering excellent service
for a bulb replacement -
read more |
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BMW, for assisting in
getting around the corporate
procedures to enable payment to
be received -
read more |
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Chrysler Jeep Dodge, for
the Service Manager coming to
the rescue after two service
assistants showed lack of care
to the customer -
read more
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Allee Bleeue, for lifting
its boom, to welcome visitors,
and for introducing a free
wireless internet service at its
restaurant -
read more |
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• |
Multichoice, for most
efficient and friendly service
in sorting out a customer's
account problem -
read more |
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Nedbank in George, for
delivering credit card imprint
forms within two hours of being
ordered -
read more |
Sour Service Award recipients
in the past six weeks are the following:
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Woolworths at the V & A
Waterfront, for slow service at
the till, and for a manager not
being able to do anything about
it -
read more |
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Taylor Blinds, for good
debt collecting but poor
installation service -
read more |
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• |
Metropolitan Life/Tourvest
Travel Services, for
threatening to have Whale
Cottage blacklisted due to it
canceling a booking with an
administrative burden -
read more |
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• |
Department of Home Affairs'
branch in Paarl, for
exceptionally slow service in
providing a document for a
93-year old resident -
read more |
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V & A Waterfront, for its
parking ticket machines that are
often out of order -
read more |
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Deukom, for only having
one person on duty in the call
centre on a Sunday morning, and
the resultant long wait to
receive service -
read more |
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• |
TELKOM, for taking two
months to fix the Whale Cottage
Camps Bay ADSL line - read more -
read more |
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