SA the world's top destination

                                            Picture: Iafrica

South Africa has been voted the top destination by members of the world's largest travel and lifestyle social network, Where Are You Now? (WAYN), in the site's recent "dream destination competition".

The country beat Brazil, India, Dubai, Fiji, Turkey and Indonesia with 15 300 votes from members around the world.

A total 78,000 votes were counted for all seven of the destinations. The nominated countries and cities were selected through market research and tracking user engagement on WAYN. "All seven countries and cities nominated were extremely worthy contenders and dream destinations in their own right," WAYN co-founder and chief risk officer, Jeremy Touze, said in a statement last week.

"The immense popularity of South Africa as a tourist destination has been reinforced by this competition, and interestingly the activity we are seeing correlates with the recent announcement by President Jacob Zuma that the amount of foreign visitors to South Africa has grown by 300% to 13.5-million visitors, 9.2-million of which were tourists."

Touze said South Africa's strongest following comes from Asia, in particular India. "Out of the 408 000 fans of South Africa on WAYN, there are now over 108 000 fans from India alone," he said. "We are privileged to live in an incredible country, a land of spectacular wildlife, awe-inspiring adventure and unique heritage and culture," said chief executive officer of South African Tourism, Thulani Nzima. "It is home to warm, welcoming people, eager to share it with travellers from around the world.

"We are already touched by the hundreds of thousands of friends our destination has made on the WAYN.com platform and we are delighted with this accolade, which we hope will make more people's dreams of visiting South Africa a reality," Nzima said.

To see the full article on iafrica.com ,click here. 

Germans deeply in love with SA

                                         Picture: iafrica

Tourist arrivals to South Africa increased 10.4% between January and October last year compared with the same period in 2011, helped by a growing number of German visitors, according to the Department of Tourism.

Germany was one of the key traditional overseas markets for travel to South Africa, with the US and the UK at the top of the pile, the department said.

Over the 10-month period, 7.5m tourists arrived compared with 6.8m for the same period in 2011. The number of German tourists increased 12.2% to 204,247.

To see the full article on iafrica.com, click here.

Franschoek Wine Tram

The Franschhoek Wine Tram hop-on hop-off tour is one of the best ways to discover the Franschhoek Valley. No more searching for designated drivers!

Passengers on board the hop-on hop-off tour will experience a unique and leisurely way to see the Franschhoek Valley as they journey through rolling vineyards in an open-side tram and open-air tram-bus stopping in at some of South Africa’s oldest and most distinguished wine estates. A combination of tram and tram-bus transports passengers around a loop of stops allowing them to hop-off at each stop and experience the activities on offer, be it wine tasting, a cellar tour, lunch or simply a stroll through the vineyards and when they are ready, hop-on to continue the tour.

The six stops include the wine estates of Grande Provence, Rickety Bridge, Dieu Donne, Haute Cabrière, and Chamonix (all of which boast world-class restaurants), as well as the Huguenot Museum.

The tram seats 32 passengers on eight comfortable benches. Six of the eight benches have flip-over, tram-style seat-backs that allow passengers to enjoy the view in both directions.

Tickets details

• Tickets can be purchased online at www.winetram.co.za or at the Franschhoek Wine Tram ticket office at Bijoux Square, 60 Huguenot Road, Franschhoek.

• Ticket prices are R150 for adults, R75 for children 5 – 17 years of age, and free of charge for children aged 4 and under.

• Adult tickets include complimentary wine tastings.

• Early booking is advised as only a limited number of tickets are available each day.

• Tickets are valid for departure any time between 10am and 2:40pm. Tours depart every 40 minutes from the ticket office.

For more information visit http://winetram.co.za/

International tourism arrivals to exceed 1 billion

 Picture: iafrica

The number of tourists in the world this year will pass the one-billion mark despite the economic crisis, the head of the World Tourism Organisation said Wednesday.

The number of people making tourist trips in 2012 is set to record a rise of 3 % compared to 2011 in recession-bound Europe, 7 % in Asia and 4 % worldwide, he said.

"When you have one billion international travellers, it's one out of six people of the world that cross borders," he said.

That indicated a strong recovery compared to 2009, when world tourism declined 3.8 % at the height of the financial crisis, though the rise has stopped accelerating after growth of 6.6 % in 2010.

He said his organisation forecasts that by 2030 the number of tourists worldwide would reach 1.8 billion.

To see the full article on iafrica.com, click here

Mozambique establishes Africa's Largest Marine Reserve

Picture: 2oceansvibe

The Primeiras and Segundas have been approved as a marine protected area in Mozambique making this diverse ten-island archipelago Africa’s largest coastal marine reserve.

Comprising ten islands off the coast of northern Mozambique, and featuring abundant coral and marine turtle species, the protected area will cover more than 1,040,926 hectares. WWF has worked for eight years to secure this important marine reserve, which has been threatened by overfishing and unauthorised tourism.

Located in the northern region of the country, between Nampula and Zambezia Provinces, the declaration of the Primeiras and Segundas environment protection area represents the second major conservation area to be declared within the last two years.

The archipelago includes the most robust and diverse coral community in Mozambique. It is rich in mangroves, marine life, deep underwater canyons and large seagrass beds. Due to cold nutrient-rich upwellings, the archipelago is spared coral bleaching, a common problem in other coral-rich areas, making these some of the most globally productive and important reefs on the planet.

The area is also of great economical importance. Artisanal, semi-industrial, and industrial fishermen have been carrying out their fishery activities in the same area. Thus, all fishing activity within the archipelago area shows signs of overexploitation, with some species on the brink of collapse.

Read more: http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?206632/Mozambique-creates-Africas-largest-coa

 

Blue Flag Status for 8 of the City of Cape Town's beaches

Picture: iafrica (source: Tumblr)

The National Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, confirmed that eight of the City of Cape Town’s beaches and two of its marinas have been awarded Blue Flag Status.

The Blue Flag is a voluntary eco-label awarded annually to over 3650 beaches and marinas in 44 countries across Europe, South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada and the Caribbean. The City has successfully participated in the Blue Flag Beach Programme since its inception in South Africa in 2001.

This year the City applied for Blue Flag status for eight of its beaches across the metropole – all of which have been granted this coveted status. This means that the City has the highest number of Blue Flag beaches in South Africa.

The beaches that have been awarded Blue Flag status for this season, which runs from 1 December 2012 to 31 March 2013, are Bikini, Mnandi, Strandfontein, Muizenberg, Llandudno, Camps Bay, Clifton 4th and Silwerstroomstrand.

Blue Flag beaches are required to meet 32 criteria spanning four aspects of coastal management: water quality, environmental education and information, environmental management and safety and services. The status indicates that the beaches are clean, have adequate ablution facilities and parking, are environmentally sound, are safe and secure to visit, and adhere to international safety and tourism standards.

In conclusion, the Blue Flag brand adds value to Cape Town’s Responsible Tourism offerings and supports the implementation of the City’s Responsible Tourism Policy.

Read more: http://business.iafrica.com/property/news/821952.html?p=1

Increase of tourist arrivals to South Africa

Tourist arrivals to South Africa grew by 10.5 percent over the first six months of this year, Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said.

According to Statistics SA, the tourism figures indicated that South Africa experienced an excellent first half of the year, attracting 4,416,373 tourists to the country between January and June 2012, compared to 3,996,760 tourist arrivals for the same period in 2011.

The tourism industry experienced particularly strong growth in overseas tourist arrivals, recording 17.1 percent growth in arrivals from outside the African continent. A total of 1,163,477 overseas tourist arrivals were recorded for the first six months of 2012, compared to 993,364 tourist arrivals for the corresponding period in 2011.

Image from Destination360

For the full article visit iafrica.com

SA's global rankings in 2012

The World Competitiveness Report has just pronounced that SA’s ranking has improved by two places from 52nd to 50th.

More surveys on just about everything:

• According to the Open Budget Index 2010, South Africa has the most transparent budget in the world. (International Budget Partnership)

•  South Africa’s debt to GDP ratio is 40 percent (USA 100 percent, Japan 200 percent, UK 90 percent). The World Bank recommends a ratio of below 60 percent.

•  South Africa is ranked 1st out of 142 countries in respect of regulation of security exchanges according to the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12

• South Africa's banks rank 2nd in the world for soundness, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12.

• South African Tax Revenue has increased from R100-billion in 1994 to R742.7-billion in 2011-12 and the individual taxpayer net from 2.5-million taxpayers in 1994 to 10.7-million in 2011

• South Africa is ranked 1st in respect of auditing and reporting, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2011/12.

• The South African rand was the second best performing currency against the US Dollar between 2007 and 2011, according to Bloomberg’s Currency Scorecard.

• The number of tourists visiting South Africa has grown from 3.9-million in 1994 to 11.8-million in 2010. South Africa is ranked among the top five countries in the world in respect of tourism growth (growing at three times the global average).

• The percentage of the South African population with access to clean drinking water has increased from 62 percent in 1994, to 93 percent in 2011. Access to electricity has increased from 34 percent in 1994, to 84 percent in 2011.

• Since 1994, 435 houses have been built each day for the poor.SA has 45-million active cell phones (population 49-million) — ranking in the top five globally in terms of cell phone coverage.

 To see the full article on iafrica.com, click here

SAA drops Cape Town - London

South African Airways announced this week it is halting daily direct flights between Cape Town and London, to avoid losses amid shrinking demand.

The national carrier will close the Cape Town route, operational for 20 years, in August when two daily flights with increased capacity from Johannesburg will become its sole leg to Heathrow.

"A thorough analysis of the route made it clear that we could use our aircraft more profitably elsewhere, while continuing to ensure excellent business and tourism links... via Johannesburg," said Theunis Potgieter, SAA commercial general manager.

"It is also clear that we would lose money on the direct route in the future, whereas it is possible for us to operate more optimally between Cape Town and London via our Johannesburg hub," he said in a statement.

But the local tourism industry is not convinced.

"Our research has indicated that the London-Cape Town route still holds strong economic value for the Western Cape and neighbouring Eastern Cape," said Nils Flaatten, CEO of development agency Wesgro. "International airlines identified this and are increasing their capacity during peak season. Many business and leisure travelers from the United States are using London as a connecting flight into Cape Town and we are at risk of losing these visitors, as the traveling time has been extended even further."

"This is disappointing news for Cape Town’s tourism industry and we fear it could affect tourism arrivals from the UK and the rest of Europe negatively," commented Cape Town Tourism CEO, Mariëtte Du Toit-Helmbold.

To see the full article on iafrica.com, click here

Durban: see more for less

                                  
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest cityin South Africa. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism because of the city's warm subtropical climate and extensive beaches.

Visitors to Durban can now see more for less, with the launch of the iVenture Card “See Durban Attraction Pass”.

With its purchase, tourists are able to plan fun days with the family, whilst also enjoying a significant saving of up to 40 percent.

There are eighteen key tourism attractions that iVenture Card users can visit, including iconic experiences such as the Moses Mabhida Stadium, uShaka Marine World, KZN Sharks Board, Mini Town, Phezula Safari Park and Ocean Ventures to name a few.

To see the full article on iafrica.com, please click here

Paternoster for less - Winter special at Abalone House

Paternoster's best-kept secret is its winter season. Clear, still days dazzled with sunshine, epitomize winter here. Velvety green carpets of wheat surround the village and southern right whales frolic in the bay.

Echoing the beauty of Paternoster is Abalone House, the village’s first five-star boutique guesthouse. Beautifully designed around a central courtyard and lapping swimming pool, each of the 10 suites of Abalone House is completely private and utterly decadent.

While some of the suites have Atlantic views, all have access to private relaxation areas where guests can completely unwind to the sound of waves and wind chimes and there is even a rooftop Jacuzzi with views of the bay and powder white sandy beaches.
For those looking for a sociable, cosy evening around the fire, there is the Africa Bar which is an oversized rock fireplace.

Abalone House is offering a special winter package of R995 per person sharing, which includes an overnight stay, sumptuous breakfast and indulgent afternoon tea.
This rate is available 1 May – 31 August 2012 and is subject to availability.

To make a booking contact Abalone House directly.

For the full article on iafrica.com, click here

You do not need a holiday you need Cape Town!

This image video of the "Mother city"
was published by Cape Town Tourism.

Check it out and see yourself why Cape Town is all you need! :)