Indaba hailed as ‘runaway success’

The KwaZulu-Natal Economic Development and Tourism Ministry has described the 2013 Tourism Indaba that concludes at the iNkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (ICC) today, as “exciting” and boasting technological savvy.

Speaking to SAnews, MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu’s spokesman Bheko Madlala said the MEC was upbeat. “All indications are that the event was a runaway success. We are quite excited that as a province we have been able to host an event of this magnitude,” Madlala said.

He said preliminary figures show that over R40 million was injected into the Durban economy by the four-day Tourism Indaba event. He revealed that Economic Development and Tourism has appointed a company to perform an economic impact study of the 2013 Tourism Indaba.

The sentiments of the department are equally shared by organisers who have also hailed the 2013 edition of Tourism Indaba as a technological success, calling it “business like” and “modern.” The total number of visitors once tallied is expected to exceed 11 000, organisers said today.

Indaba 2013 featured a number of new and exciting additions that added great value – one of these was Indaba Connect – an awesome new technology which enabled thousands of delegates to connect and exchange information electronically.

Organisers told Indaba Daily News that more than 11 000 users had been activated on the Indaba Connect, making 136 585 connections between them and sharing 14 000 documents. The technology brought significant green benefits and it was estimated that by Monday evening Indaba Connect had potentially saved 230 trees by minimising the realms of printed collateral and business cards.

Another innovation, the Indaba Matchmaking diary, proved an invaluable networking tool, with 2 744 meetings having been facilitated through this platform by late yesterday.

In another development, South Africa’s benchmark-setting integrated marketing strategy has been profiled and celebrated, with the Meet South Africa iAmbassador blogger coverage of the country reaching 55 million in one week on Twitter alone, and 15 of the world’s most followed travel and lifestyle bloggers giving the destination phenomenal, authentic endorsements and recommendations.

Meanwhile, the Heritage and Culture Pavilion, another first for Indaba, gave South Africa lifestyle, culture and heritage experiences a fresh and beautiful home. The pavilion celebrated South Africa’s eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as well as the wealth of lifestyle and culture experiences that the country offers. The Heritage and Culture Pavilion, was official opened by Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk.

Indaba was also a boon for exhibitors. “We had lots of quality buyers this year, mainly from America,” said Alastair Addison of Hemingways Collections. Another exhibitor, Salad Nthenda of Malawi Tourism, said: “We were busy and we had more serious buyers than last year”.

Finally, the Indaba 2013 stand winners were named in different categories. Tour operator Tourvest Destination Management walked away with Platinum, while Gold and Silver went to Gauteng Tourism Signature Collection and Calypso Travels respectively. Transportation best stands awards went to Springbok Atlas (Platinum), Europcar (Gold) and Avis Rent a Car (Silver). Accommodation best stands were Leading Hotels of the World (Platinum), Molori Safari Lodge (Gold) and Tsogo Sun (Silver).

The City of Cape Town has been forced into an embarrassing U-turn on its plans to ban the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sundays.

The decision to back down on regulations that threatened the future of thriving businesses such as Vaughn Johnson’s world-famous wine shop in the V&A Waterfront and Harley’s in the Cape Town CBD was taken on Wednesday afternoon.

It followed a threat of court action by Harley’s and a storm of criticism, including a strongly worded letter from Johnson that was published in The Cape Times.

Garreth Bloor, Patricia de Lille’s mayoral committee member for economic, environmental and spatial planning, tried to explain the council’s thinking in a radio interview with John Maytham.

Maythem was clearly exasperated by Bloor’s verbal gymnastics as he waffled on about the process involved and the statement the City of Cape Town had released on the matter.

Harley’s Liquor and Wine Specialists said earlier in the day that it had filed an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court for an interdict to stop the planned ban on the selling of alcohol on Sundays in Cape Town.

According to Independent Newspapers in Cape Town, Harleys owner Michael Brownstone intended to take the City of Cape Town and three other parties, including the Western Cape Liquor Board, to court over a the by-law that would have prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sundays.

“There is a serious problem with these laws. They are nonsensical and several departments are involved,” said Brownstone.

He told a journalist the by-law would see an increase in illegal alcohol trading and would lead to job losses in the industry.

“If these laws are passed, I would have to retrench half my staff. The laws are not constitutionally sound and this is what I am challenging.”

Cape Town is experiencing one of its best festive seasons yet, with popular tourist attractions already receiving record numbers of visitors.

Between January and March last year, tourists spent more than R5 billion in the province. And visitor spending in the city is set to be the same or even more this year.

The Table Mountain Cableway sold nearly 120 000 tickets in December - the highest number sold in a month since 1929 - while more than three million people visited the V&A Waterfront.

But it hasn't been a bumper season for one of the city's most popular World Heritage Sites. Visitor numbers to Robben Island have again dropped, this time by about 1 000 visitors in December. Visitor numbers to the island also fell sharply in December 2011, when it received 3 140 fewer visitors than in December 2010.

Robben Island Museum chief executive Sibongiseni Mkhize said the "slight drop" in visitor numbers was mainly due to bad weather and a few windy days.

He said exact statistics, including how many people had visited the island over the festive period, would only be available next month, but confirmed that their numbers were down by about 1 000 for December.

"We've done our best to market the museum and have been getting a lot of bookings," Mkhize said. "However, due to strong winds on a few days over the festive season, we've had to cancel some trips."

Mkhize said their ferries were in good condition and that the festive season had been "incident-free".

"No bad publicity in the past has resulted in people not (making) bookings. We have long queues here every day," he said.

Cape Town Tourism communications manager Skye Grove said the Table Mountain Cableway had sold a record 119 000 tickets in December, 19 000 more than expected.

"We believe that Table Mountain's status as (one of the) New 7 Wonders of Nature contributed to this increase - the highest monthly visitation for the last 83 years."

Cableway chief executive Sabine Lehmann said: "We are very pleased that December has been so good. We are extremely weatherdependent and we managed to sell 3 000 more tickets in December last year compared to the previous year."

The V&A Waterfront saw a 9.84 percent increase in visitor numbers last month.

A total of 3 015 227 people visited the Waterfront during December, Grove said. This is up from 2 745 386 in December 2011.

She said Cape Town also saw a spike in the number of domestic visitors this festive season, mainly from Gauteng.

"Feedback from tourism companies and

CCape Town Tourism members indicate that December 2012 was similar in terms of international tourism activity to December 2011," Grove said. "We did see an increase in domestic tourists in our Visitor Information Centres and at Cape Town attractions, but will only be able to confirm final numbers of this once we receive (Airport Company SA) arrival figures and complete our formal accommodation and attraction survey later this month." 

Cape Town - Burger King, the world's second-largest fast-food chain, is coming to Cape Town.

Capetonains will be able to experience Burger King's legendary Whopper hamburger some time next year, when the first outlet opens in the city, local partners announced on Thursday, setting up a new battleground in the war with rival McDonald's.

"Now is the time to develop the brand in South Africa," said Grand Parade Investments executive, Jose Cil, as he announced the decision to establish a branch in Cape Town.

Burger King started as Insta-Burger-King in 1953 and is famous for its Burger King Whopper.

The Whopper consists of a 113g beef patty, on a bed of lettuce, tomato, pickles, sliced onion and is dressed in mayonnaise between a sesame seed bun.The Cape Town branch will be the first Burger King in Africa.

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said the new venture would also bring about job creation and that the decision was a "welcomed vote of confidence" in the city by the private sector and would boost efforts to tackle poverty in the city.

"The City of Cape Town is proud to become the home of the first Burger King outlet in South Africa. I am grateful that the Burger King Corporation has chosen Cape Town as the base for their flagship project." De Lille said.

Grand Parade Investments financial planner and analyst Alisha Sadler-Almeida said Cape Town was chosen because Grand Parade Investments was based in the city.

"We have aggressive growth plans and plan to achieve the significant number of restaurants in half the time that it has taken McDonalds to establish itself in South Africa, and we anticipate that we will create approximately 5 000 direct and indirect jobs relating to the Burger King business," she said.

De Lille said the decision would also "open business opportunities for local suppliers. It helps our economy grow. It boosts our on-going efforts to tackle poverty in the city".

"We strongly believe the joint venture is uniquely positioned to succeed in South Africa's lucrative quick service restaurant market," Cil said.