-
Tourism’s next big challenge
We survived the Ebola panic; we survived the Visa fiasco (and hopefully South Africa will still catch up with Ethopia in making visas easily obtainable).  Now government is taking steps which threaten to damage tourism from the inside, showing a complete lack of understanding for how the industry works.
-
Cape Town Drought: When the political system fails…
The Joint Association Member Meeting (JAMMS) held its biggest ever meeting when over 600 people from the tourism and hospitality industries came to interact with the City of Cape Town and Provincial government over plans for Day Zero – the day most taps are turned off and even stricter water rationing starts – now set…
-
If dams go dry – what it means for tourism in Cape Town
The latest forecast for Cape Town’s rainfall in June, July and August is that it will be 40% below annual averages. And there are predictions that this drought could last at least two years. Cape Town could become the first world city to simply run out of water due to bad management and too much…
-
Update on Immigration Regulations – don’t hold your breath
Is progress being made with the visa regulations issue? If you relied solely on the Tourism Business Council of SA‘s (TBCSA) update to it’s members, you would think so. Until you get to the sentence, “A Board resolution has been taken that media will be engaged on this matter on a need-to-know basis – we wish…
-
The Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions
I was asked to join the board of directors of the Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve (CWBR) in July 2014. An honour indeed; or so I thought. This area encompasses one of the most beautiful regions anywhere in the world. It embraces more opportunities than challenges. It has — by virtue of its inhabitants, landowners and…
-
The problem with tourism is… usually the people who are supposed to run it
I was asked to join the board of the Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve (CWBR) last year and was given the marketing portfolio. Now, the CWBR is mandated by UNESCO, the Western Cape’s Biosphere Reserves Act and MOUs with national & local government departments to address growth in tourism within the Reserve in such a way that…
-
The Law is an Ass – open letter to Derek Hanekom, Minister of Tourism
Dear Derek I hope you’re going to be speaking to your colleagues now that a list of the National Key Points has been published. I’m sure you also didn’t know when you were breaking the law before government was forced by the courts to let us know which laws we are breaking before we break…
-
Take a straw poll, Wesgro… you might be surprised
The previous post on this blog expressed our dismay with Wesgro. In our recent newsletter, we stated that Wesgro (Western Cape destination marketing agency) hadn’t delivered on the good news they promised (and noted key staff losses amid poor ongoing communication). Judy Lain, Wesgro’s chief marketing officer, responded to the newsletter with the following email. …
-
What’s more important – towns, cities & villages… or regions?
Does anybody know what region London, New York, Paris or Sydney are in? Does anyone care?  The same goes for San Tropez, Santorini and Timbuktu. So why – in South Africa – do we make such a big deal of region and route marketing, often with names which are unknown brands? Is it because our…