Tourism Tattler September 2012

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Contents Issue 6 (September) 2012 PUBLISHER Tourism Tattler (Pty) Ltd. PO Box 891, Umhlanga Rocks, 4320 KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Company Reg.No.: 2006/015252/07 Website: www.tourismtattler.co.za MANAGING EDITOR Des Langkilde Tel: +27 (0)87 727 8631 Cell: +27 (0)82 374 7260 Fax: +27 (0)86 651 8080 E-mail: editor@tourismtattler.co.za Skype: tourismtattler EDITOR Marjorie Dean Tel: +27 (0)11 886 9996 Fax: +27 (0)11 886 7557 E-mail: communications@satsa.co.za Skype: satsa-comms ADVERTISING MANAGER Bev Langkilde Tel: +27 (0)87 727 8643 Fax: +27 (0)86 656 3860 Cell: +27 (0)71 224 9971 E-mail: bev@tourismtattler.co.za Skype: bevtourismtattler SUBSCRIPTIONS Email: subscriptions@tourismtattler.co.za Skype: subscribetourismtattler

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Win a 4 Day AWOL Cycle Tour

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MEDIA PARTNER

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Market Intelligence Report

EDITORIAL From the Editors Desk / Cover Story Quality Skills Standards - CATHSSETA Letters to the Editor Competition One Voice for Tourism - TBCSA Maritime Safety - SAMSA ACHIEVEMENTS & ACCOLADES Trade Awards ATTRACTIONS Harties Aerial Cableway Reopens BUSINESS & FINANCE Tips for Solving Business Problems Employers Challenge - Retirement The Big Dog Employee Financial Guide - Part 1 CONSERVATION Rhino Killing - SA meets Hong Kong Lion Guardians for Zimbabwe ENVIRONMENT Eco-entrepreneurs needed EVENTS TAFI Convention / VINDABA SETE Exhibition & Conference

HOSPITALITY 30 Turnaround for SA Hospitality 31 Golf Carts in History 32 Bartering Bed Nights LEGAL 33 From the Bench - CPA Part 3 MARKETING 35 SATSA Market Intelligence Report 36 TOMSA Boosts UK Arrivals 38 The Bottom Line on PR 39 Carving your China niche 40 How to get Qualified Sales Leads 43 Trends in Tourism PHOTO GALLERY 44 Veolia Photographer of the Year RISK & INSURANCE 49 The CPA and Insurance SAFETY & SECURITY 50 tsi Plans the Way Forward TECHNOLOGY 51 Gadgets & Gizmos TRADE NEWS 52 Trade Snippets 55 New Branding for Springbok Atlas

Official Trade Journal of:

The Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa (RETOSA) PO Box 7381, Half Way House, 1685 Tel: +2711 315 2420/1 Fax: +2711 315 2422 Webite: www.retosa.co.za

Adv. Louis Nel Albi Modise Annelie Barkema Barney Jordan Brian Courtenay Craig Drysdale Craig Dummett Dave Jack Des Langkilde Jason Drew

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS Kagiso Mosue Les McKeown Marjorie Dean Martin Jansen van Vuuren Marty Zwilling Michael Jones Nigel Willmott Pieter Philipse Rene Staack Terry Adendorff MAGAZINE SPONSORS

The Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA) PO Box 900, Ferndale, 2160 Tel: +2786 127 2872 Fax: +2711 886 755 Webite: www.satsa.com

SATSA PROUD SPONSOR

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Aerial Cableway Hartebeestpoort SAMSA (SATTIC Sponsor) Ekurhleni Municipality (SATTIC Sponsor) SA Tourism (SATTIC Sponsor) Gautrain Mercedes-Benz (SATTIC Sponsor) Cushman E-Z-GO

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Sani Pass Hotel & Leisure Resort Globe Lotter Tours TransMedia Barter TransMedia Barter BnB Sure Springbok Atlas Charter SATIB Insurance Brokers

Disclaimer: The Tourism Tattler is published by Tourism Tattler (Pty) Ltd and is the official trade journal of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA).

The Tourism Tattler digital e-zine, is distributed free of charge to bona fide tourism stakeholders. Letters to the Editor are assumed intended for publication in whole or part and may therefore be used for such purpose. The information provided and opinions expressed in this publication are provided in good faith and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Tourism Tattler (Pty) Ltd, SATSA, its staff and its production suppliers. Advice provided herein should not be soley relied upon as each set of circumstances may differ. Professional advice should be sought in each instance. Neither Tourism Tattler (Pty) Ltd, SATSA, its staff and its production suppliers can be held legally liable in any way for damages of any kind whatsoever arising directly or indirectly from any facts or information provided or omitted in these pages or from any statements made or withheld or from supplied photographs or graphic images reproduced by the publication.

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EDITORIAL

From the Editor’s Desk September heralds the Spring, and for all of us in Tourism, it’s Tourism Month.

So it is appropriate that the industry should be assembling, under the aegis of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) to see how we can better work together to build a brighter future in which we can all share. TBCSA was set up so that the tourism industry could speak with one voice to government, often bewildered by the many groups it has to deal with.

We have had a long winter of economic troubles, and though they are by no means over, it is now possible to see green shoots of positivity for tourism. In today’s world teamwork and partnership are vital, although we dare not lose sight of the important contributions made by individuals through their creativity and effort. The SATTIC Conference (02-04 September) is a groundbreaking step in that direction. And we would like to thank all our sponsors who are making it possible.

The programme for our discussions on truly relevant issues, with brilliant, knowledgeable speakers is inserted in this edition (and downloadable at www.tourismvision2020.co.za).

Tattler looks at many important issues that confront us. One of the most exciting stories is featured on our cover and is sure to be a huge attraction for both international and domestic tourists. Like many recent developments in our tourism industry, it’s a world-class product. And it’s exciting to know of new developments for tourism at the Vredefort Dome – a World Heritage Site, greatly in need of thoughtful development to preserve a unique heritage. We look at the latest thinking on marketing – always an important topic – as well as getting good news on conservation projects that are helping to preserve the wildlife that many of our visitors travel long distances to see. We honour those who have achieved, and report on those who are quietly making a difference.

It’s a great time to be in tourism – so much that’s exciting and new lies ahead!

Marjorie

Cover Story mountains. A Magaliesberg Biosphere Initiative Group was formed in 2006 and are trying to get the Magaliesberg proclaimed a Biosphere by UNESCO.

Our cover for this edition features the recently reopened Aerial Cableway Hartbeespoort, which was officially opened by the South African Minister of Tourism, Honourable Marthinus van Schalkwyk on 14 August.

The Magaliesberg was proclaimed a Protected Natural Environment in 1977 however the protection applies only to the core area.

The original aerial cableway was constructed in 1973 and was closed after it fell into disrepair in 2005. In 2010, Zargodox (Pty) Ltd began a private initiative with the aim of growing tourism in the Hartbeespoort area and purchased the old cableway. In collaboration with Swiss company Rowema AG, Zargodox invested time and expertise into rejuvenating the old cableway and bringing the area back to life.

The area in and around Magaliesberg has a rich and diverse history, from both a geological and human perspective. Read more in our special feature on pages 18 and 19.

The cableway has been modernised using the latest materials and technology. New cable cars were supplied by Swiss company CWA Constructions, the largest cabin manufacturer in the world.

The Magaliesberg (historically also known as Macalisberg or as the Cashan Mountains) is a mountain range extending from Pretoria in the north of the Gauteng Province to a point south of Pilanesberg, in the North West Province, South Africa. The highest point of the Magaliesberg is reached at Nooitgedacht (1 852 metres).

To protect the area from quarrying and silica mining, several lobbying groups have been formed, including the Magaliesberg Protection Association, which was formed in 1975 by individuals and organisations with the aim of conserving the Magliesberg SEPTEMBER 2012

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FEATURE

Developing international quality standards in training and skills development Our Vision Sustainable people development for prosperity

Our Mission To facilitate skills development of our people through creating strategic partnerships to ensure a meaningful contribution to economic growth within our sector.

CATHSSETA, the Culture, Art, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Education and Training Authority, is the Sector Education and Authority (SETA) established under the Skills Development Act (No 97 of 1998). The SETA is set up to provide skills development and training in the Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Economic Sectors.

CATHSSETA’s main function is to contribute to the raising of skills for each of the above mentioned sectors. This is done by ensuring that people learn skills that are needed and relevant in the industries.

There is no value in training people if they cannot use the skills they have learnt, hence the need to ensure that learners, particularly those in FET colleges are exposed to work based training in order to ensure that the qualifications they obtain match up to employer expectations. Training skills development is not just for young people starting their first jobs though it is important for them too. It is important to also ensure that skills of people already in job must be enhanced.

CATHSSETA encourages all the employers within its sectors to ensure that training is of the standards set up by the qualifications framework. This will ensure that learners and employers that are trained in one organisation are able to make use of their qualifications outside that specific environment.

All training, wherever it is provided, should be subject to quality control and where appropriate be compared to best international practices.

In an effort to assist employers to set up proper training structures within their organisations and to easily identify existing skills gaps, the CATHSSETA annually compiles a Sector Skills Plan.

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Our Values • Commitment to Transformation • Strengthening Partnerships • People Development • Service Excellence • Accessibility • Integrity

• Develop a sector skills plan • Encourage employers to Implement the sector skills plan • Develop and administer learnerships in partnership with employers and FET Colleges • Support the implementation of the National Qualifications Framework • Undertake quality assurance • Disburse levies collected from employers in their sector • Report to the Minister and to the South African Qualifications Authority.

Below: Some of the 29 learners who are taking part in the 12 month Tourism and Travel programme initiated by CATHSSETA.

FEATURE

Striving for greater heights through tourism In a country where the overall unemployment rate is estimated to be at 25% and over 70% of the unemployed are under the age of 35, there are not enough initiatives being made to address such imbalances within South Africa’s growing economy.

In February 2012 however, 29 learners from rural municipalities of Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, Dambuza and Manyiseni in KwaZulu Natal and Vhembe in Limpopo were selected to partake in a 12 month learnership programme within the Tourism industry. In a partnership with CATHSSETA, six companies namely Tourvest, Bidvest travel, Thompsons, BCD travel and Rennies, took on the learners and have been training and mentoring them in the field of Travel and Tourism.

Of the 29 learners, three were identified as potential top achievers and selected to be part of a documentary profiling their journey from their respective homes to their arrival in Johannesburg as well as their visions for the future.

Yonela Mguca is a young aspirant learner from Shlito village in Lusikisiki where there is no running water and the only source is from a river nearby. The village lacks in the basic needs and many of the young people growing up do not have access to career guidance

at schools or university opportunities, let alone jobs to look forward to.

She had the opportunity to go to Lanseria Airport where she received a full tour of the airport facility and a chance to witness the boarding procedure.

“I am grateful to CATHSSETA for the learnership opportunity as this was a great experience for me as I had never been to an airport, much less board a plane.” Said Yonela The main aim for the Rural Development project is to allow young people from these disadvantaged areas who have aspirations to work in travel agencies to have the knowledge of the travel and tourism industry which they would not ordinarily have. The learnership is a General Travel Level 5 qualification which consists of 23 unit standards which include subjects such as World Geography, Customer Service, Sales Skills as well as Galileo which is a big part of the everyday working process for travel agents.

Through great partnerships, CATHSSETA is able to work towards its vision of sustainable people development for prosperity.

Below: Yonela Mguca with Natasha Beyers from Thompsons Holidays.

Contact CATHSSETA: Postal:

Call Centre:

P.O. Box 1329

0860-100-221

Rivonia, 2128 South Africa Physical: 3rd Floor, Block E

Telephone: 011-217-0600 Fax:

Sandhurst Office Park

011-783-7745

Cnr Rivonia Road & Katherine Street

e-Mail:

Sandton, 2146

info@cathsseta.org.za

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

make people aware of the importance of this occurrence and allow them to appreciate what we have. In other words, it is up to the community to “take possession” of this and spread the word. In the opinion of the gathering, this was long overdue.

Of extreme importance to the landowners, resorts and activity operators in the Dome is to control the environment in which this exists and not to damage this precious heritage so that it is here for our future generations to experience and marvel.

Dear Editor, The meeting held on 7 August 2012 at Die Blakermaker in Parys in order to explore the possibility of a dedicated Vredefort Dome Tourism Association attracted a dozen interested parties.

Considering this was one of the coldest nights of the year so far, one can only thank these people for their dedication to the preservation of the Vredefort Dome World Heritage Site and the potential spinoff of tourism to the Site and surrounding areas. Apart from the attendees, a number of other interested parties who could not be there in person, expressed support for the initiative and provided a mandate to the gathering to pursue the proposal.

The general consensus among the parties present was that there was a definite need to assist in developing tourism in the Dome but that it should avoid being just another info office as these facilities exist in abundance in the area. Therefore the Association should rather concentrate on the development of tourism.

It was made clear that Government wants the community to take charge of developing tourism in the area and once this was established, support would come from them. Of prime importance for Government is the development among the local communities of knowledgeable and qualified tourist guides and that assistance would be available through the SA Qualifications Authority (SAQA).

Tourism is the future of the sustained economic well-being of the area and this will attract visitors to Parys and the Vredefort Dome.

It was agreed that we have a unique situation in the area with the proclaimed oldest, largest and most complete meteorite impact site in the world. People need to be well informed of this and the truth needs to be told. When visitors ask “where is the Dome” they need to be properly informed as to what to expect. We do not have a “Big Hole” but a much more unique naturally occurring phenomenon which influenced the landscape we see today. Proper education will

Wi n

All present were in favour of establishing a Dome Tourism Association to address the above and to accommodate the existing infrastructures including the many parties who already promote the area, but to speak with one voice.

It was agreed to form an interim committee to take these sentiments further and to investigate ways and means of establishing a Section 21 company to lead the initiative and market and promote the area for the benefit of potential members. Included in this proposal was the necessity to obtain a fundraising number in order to attract funding for future projects. The interim committee would also investigate the writing of a suitable Constitution and would consult with as wide a constituency as possible to cover all possible inputs.

Further information and contributions would be welcomed and can be directed to myself as the person who has been tasked with forming the Interim committee.

Regards, Maurice Britten The Panama Hat - 083 381 5150 Congratulations, Maurice.

Your letter has been chosen as the winning letter for the September edition.

A copy of National Geographic’s ‘Relentless Enemies’ DVD will be delivered to you with the compliments of Livingstones Supply Co – suppliers of the finest products to the hospitality Industry.

Ed.

The winning letter published in the Tourism Tattler Issue 6 (September) 2012 edition will receive a copy of National Geographic’s ‘The Last Lions’ DVD with the compliments of Livingstones Supply Co – Suppliers of the Finest Products to the Hospitality Industry.

Letters should be sent by 19 September 2012 to editor@tourismtattler.co.za National Geographic’s wildlife adventure movie, The Last Lions, tells the suspense-filled tale of a determined lioness ready to try anything to keep her family alive. Created by pioneering filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert, this beautifully shot film tells the tale of Ma di Tau (“Mother of Lions”) and her fragile cubs as they must take a perilous journey through raging fire, rival prides, croc-infested rivers, and deadly buffalo in order to survive. Yet, even as Ma di Tau faces devastating losses and escalating perils, she becomes part of a stunning turning point in the power dynamics, bringing together a competitive rival pride in a titanic primal bid to preserve the thing that matters most: the future of their bloodlines.

SPECIAL FEATURES: • Behind the Scenes • Deleted Scenes • Causing an Uproar • Interview with Dereck and Beverly Joubert. AUDIO: 5.1 Surround Sound.

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For more information visit: www.livingstonessupplyco.co.za

EDITORIAL

READER COMPETITION

A 4 day

Cycle Tour for 2

To enter this reader competition simply ensure that you are optedin to the Tourism Tattler mailing list by subscribing at http://www. tourismtattler.co.za/subscribe and answer the following question by email: “Of which responsible tourism body is AWOL Tours an accredited member?�

Email your answer with AWOL Tours Competition in the Subject field to editor@tourismtattler.co.za by 19 September 2012. Remember to include your contact details (Name, company trading name, telephone numbers, city/town, province and country).

The first correct entry drawn will win a 4 day cycle tour valued at R9,700 with the compliments of AWOL Tours.

The prize for two people sharing is an easy FOUR day cycle tour - a healthy and environmentally friendly way to explore the highlights of Cape Town on two wheels.

AWOL Tours will include a half day Cape Town city cycle Tour, Cape Peninsula self cycle tour including accommodation for 2 nights (farm cottages and beach guesthouse) and a Bicycle Township Tour in Masiphumelele.

An introduction to Cape Town city is given on the first day, showcasing our vibrant people and diverse history. Pedal at a relaxed pace along the Cape Peninsula with spectacular coastal views. Spend the evenings in secluded farm house cottages and beach cottages, braai under the stars, visit a penguin colony, watch whales and experience local Xhosa Culture.

With the compliments of:

Wi n

The competition prize will be valid for one year (to 31 Oct 2013). A booking will need to be made at least one month in advance and is subject to availability at the time of making the booking. Once booking dates are reserved, dates are fixed and not transferrable (as accommodation booking cannot be changed, the tour is not weather dependant and cannot be changed due to bad weather).

The winners need not be expert cyclists but do need to know how to ride a bicycle for at least 20km and be comfortable in traffic.

The prize includes: Bicycle rental, helmets, pannier bags and bicycle tools, maps and route notes, storage of luggage, guest house accommodation, breakfast and dnner. Excludes: First night accommodation in Cape Town, transport to the V&A Waterfront and train station, train ticket to Muizenberg, lunch and items of a personal nature.

AWOL Tours strives to ensure responsible tourism practices and integrates a responsible tourism policy into their itineraries, which brings significant benefit to local communities by providing income, positive cultural exchanges as well as protecting the natural environment. For their efforts they have won a 2006 First Choice Responsible Tourism Award, finalist for the 2008 & 2011 Imvelo Awards and 2012 TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence. AWOL Tours is an accredited member of Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa.

For more information visit: www.awoltours.co.za The Terms and Conditions of this competition can be downloaded at: http://www.tourismtattler.co.za/AWOL_Tours-TourismTattlerCompetition_Terms&Conditions.pdf

WINNER OF THE TITAN RUGGED SMART PHONE COMPETITION FROM ISSUE 6 (AUGUST) 2012 EDITION CONGRATULATIONS to Michele Harvey of Active Africa, Cape Town, South Africa whose competition entry was the first correct entry to be drawn.

Michele has won a Titan Rugged smart phone valued at R3,599.00 with the compliments of Leaf Communications.

For more information visit: www.ruggedphones.co.za

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FEATURE

One Voice For Travel And Tourism, One Platform For Dialogue Seventeen years after its establishment, the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) continues to play a meaningful role as a commune and unifying factor for business in the travel and tourism industry, writes Kagiso Mosue.

TBCSA is the official umbrella body for travel and tourism business operators. The organisation is made up of leading businesses, sector associations and large corporations who operate outside the sphere of travel and tourism but recognise the economic value of the industry. As the voice of business we are motivated by the need to create an enabling environment for economic prosperity, Sector Associations affiliated to the TBCSA are: 1. AHI – Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut 2. ASATA – Association of South African Travel Agents 3. FEDHASA – Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa 4. MTA – Medical Tourism Association 5. NAA – SA - National Accommodation Association of South Africa 6. RASA – Restaurant Association of South Africa 7. SAACI – Southern African Association for the Conference Industry 8. SABOA – Southern African Bus Operators’ Association 9. SATSA – Southern African Tourism Services Association 10. SAVRALA – Southern African Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association 11. SAYTC – South African Youth Travel Confederation 12. VOASA – Vacation Ownership Association of South Africa 13. ORCSA – Off-Road Council of South Africa 14. PHASA – Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa 15. FGASA – Field Guides Association of South Africa

whilst ensuring the protection of our country’s natural and cultural heritage.

Our aim is to foster profitable linkages with all relevant stakeholders and to ensure that business continues to play a constructive role in the country’s economic development, growth and transformation.

Our key Milestones include: • Public-Private sector collaboration to develop the National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTSS) • Successful lobbying for the re-establishment of the Tourism Empowerment Council of South Africa as well as the development of the Tourism BEE Charter in partnership with key stakeholders • The development the industry’s first performance monitoring tool – the TBCSA FNB Tourism Business Index • Successful lobbying for the establishment of a dedicated Ministry for Travel and Tourism • The establishment and growth of TOMSA, which contributes funds for the promotion of destination South Africa • Successful hosting of the annual Hotel Investment Conference Africa, creating a platform for funders and developers to explore investment opportunities in Africa’s hospitality sector.

SATTIC 2012 – A Single Platform for Dialogue Through the TBCSA, member associations ASATA (Association of South African Travel Agents), FEDHASA (Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa), NAA-SA (National Accommodation Association of South Africa), SAVRALA (South African Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association) and SATSA (Southern African Tourism Services Association) have pulled resources together to collaborate with the aim of reducing the proliferation of conferences in the industry.

The South African Travel and Tourism Industry Conference (SATTIC) is the latest industry venture, which sees five member associations taking the lead in creating a single platform where the industry can address sector-specific issues, as well as challenges affecting the entire industry.

Inserted into the centre spread of this special SATTIC conference edition of the Tourism Tattler Trade Journal, you will find a twelve page programme with profiles of our distinguished speakers.

Readers who have not been able to join us at the conference can download the conference programme from the SATTIC website at: http://www.tourismvision2020.co.za/ Readers may also interact via the SATTIC social media pages at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/SATravelAndTourismIndustryConference Twitter: www.twitter.com/sa_ttic SEPTEMBER 2012

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FEATURE

The South African Maritime Safety Authority The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) was established under the SAMSA Act 5 of 1998. SAMSA is the authority charged with the promotion of South Africa’s maritime interests even though South Africa has many maritime interests that cut across many ministerial and departmental jurisdictions. It falls under the ambit of the Department of Transport.

SAMSA is also championing the development of Marine Tourism and leisure in South Africa.

• The Marine Tourism and leisure sector is comprised of the following: • The boating and cruising cluster that includes yachting, cruising, ferrying, as well as hospitality and entertainment, • The sports and recreation cluster that includes marine activities, diving, swimming and sailing, and

These interests, rights and obligations are covered under international conventions to which South Africa is party, such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and other maritime related conventions, which SAMSA must protect and promote. These international conventions are administered by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) which is SAMSA’s major international stakeholder.

• The leisure cluster which includes ecomarine tourism, real estate, as well as adventure and viewing (such as whale watching and shark cage diving).

Marine Tourism and leisure in South Africa is largely underdeveloped considering that South Africa has more than 3000 km of coastline, 400 navigable rivers and dams and SAMSA was established on 1 April 1998. more than 1 200 boats that can Its formation resulted from the 1996 be used for tourism, sports and recreation.

Transport Policy with the vision that South Africa’s Transport must support government strategies for economic and social development whilst being environmentally and economically sustainable.

The articulation of the maritime policy imperatives and goals are as follows: • Developing maritime awareness; • Assisting in the creation and fostering of an economic environment for the Maritime Transport Industry which will allow it to compete with other nations; • Contributing to the release of the full potential of the maritime industry in South Africa and to the modernisation of the shipping administration; and • Ensuring fair labour practices such as employee rights, job creation and security with acceptable standards of employee health, welfare and safety in the maritime industry.

As a result of articulations in the Transport Policy the founding legislation of SAMSA identified three core mandate of the entity as: • To ensure safety of life and property at sea • To prevent and combat pollution from ships in the marine environment • To promote South Africa’s maritime interests

The sector is largely underdeveloped and unexplored, yet we have not integrated these marine resources in the national tourism strategies.

SAMSA recognizes that South Africa has a National Tourism Strategy, which is silent on marine tourism issues. The strategy covers marine tourism from a cruise point of view and does not integrate other elements of marine tourism.

Following South Africa’s first Maritime Conference which was hosted by SAMSA the following objectives were identified and are being looked into as the cornerstones of developing the Marine Tourism and leisure sector: • Establishing and promoting national boat owning companies • Initiate awareness programmes on watersports and marine recreational activities to previously disadvantaged individuals • Promote seabed adventure trip and protect deepsea treasures • Expand tourism, sports and recreation into Historically Disenfranchised areas • Dedicated facilities in potential cruise hub ports such as Cape Town, Port Elizabeth/Ngqurha and Durban/Richards Bay; • Consider investments in cruise and ferry systems • Consider establishments of Marine Leisure and Recreational Parks and • Promotion of Waterfront Real Estate.

SAMSA is committed to bringing together stakeholders in the tourism and Maritime sector in the spirit of further developing the Marine Tourism sector for the benefit of South Africa and all who live in it.

For more information visit: http://www.samsa.org.za/ 14

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Share the Freedom Share the Experience Moving to and from places of work, leisure and home is at the heart of what we do every day. Gautrain offers public transport that is convenient, safe and affordable with predictable travel times.

Gautrain helps to improve mobility and provides the backbone of a more integrated transport system for the People of Gauteng, for People on the Move.

www.gautrain.co.za www.gautrain.mobi

Call Centre: 0800 Gautrain

SMS “Alert� to 32693 for service updates

ACHIEVEMENTS & ACCOLADES

for having one of the most outstanding restaurant wine lists in the world and joint best winelist in South Africa in the recent Diners Club Winelist Awards.

For more information visit: http://www. granderoche.co.za/

The whole nine yards for Avis For the ninth consecutive year, Avis Rent a Car has won the 2012 Sunday Times Top Brands Award for the best car rental company in South Africa. Chief Executive, Southern Africa, Keith Rankin, attributes this record to the unfailing commitment of dedicated staff.

KENYA Gamewatchers wins KTF Award 2012 Gamewatchers Safaris and the Porini Safari Camps are the proud winners of this years Kenya Tourism Federation Awards 2012. The Porini Safari Camps came out as winners as the Best in Kenya for the “Support and Integration with Local Community Award”.

They were honoured for their pioneering work and partnership with the Maasai communities in creating wildlife conservancies in addition to supporting local initiatives in education, health and water projects.

For more information visit: http://www.tourismawards.or.ke/#

Rankin believes that a major driving force behind the determination to keep trying harder and maintaining a high service delivery was the introduction in 2003 of its Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI). The survey, conducted by an independent company, evaluates an average of 3 500 interviews with customers each month, identifying any under-performing area of product and service delivery.

For more information visit: http://www. avis.co.za/

Stellenbosch Kloof crowned SA’s finest winegrowing area

SOUTH AFRICA SA Tourism India wins another award South African Tourism India won the Today’s Traveller Best Publicity and Promotions Award at an awards function on 7 August 2012. This is hot on the heels of another big win: earlier this year the team won Lonely Planet’s award for Best International Wildlife Destination.

Innovative outdoor and cinema campaigns, and the excellent country guide penned by famous cricketer, Jonty Rhodes, helped South African Tourism to its win.

Hanneli Slabber, Country Head, South African Tourism India, was delighted with the prestigious award and said that 2 awards in quick succession were very encouraging. ‘We have invested a lot of effort in communicating about South Africa as a complete family holiday destination. The award shows that our messages have reached our target audience. There were many out-of-the-box ideas that we used in this journey, especially the guide launched in association with Jonty Rhodes,’ she said.

For more information visit: http://www.southafrica.net/

Stellenbosch Kloof, which forms part of the Stellenbosch Valley – a renowned sub-route of the Stellenbosch American Express ® Wine Routes – reigns supreme as South Africa’s finest winegrowing area with most of the top performing wines awarded at the 7th annual Novare SA Terroir Wine Awards 2012 stemming from this prime slice of winemaking paradise.

The aim of the competition is to highlight the wines that most clearly express the distinctiveness in character and quality of a specific vineyard, ward or district. Neethlingshof and Jordan Estate were the main contributors in winning this year’s SA Terroir Top Wine Area Trophy for Stellenbosch Kloof, which produced three National Winners (the top wine in its varietal or style category); one of the Top 5 Estate Wines, and no fewer than six winners in the Stellenbosch District.

For more information visit: www.wineroute.co.za

Left: Annareth Bolton CEO of Stelllenbosch Wine Routes with Gary Jordan of Jordan Estate and De Wet Viljoen of Neethlingshof.

Eat Out nominates Bosman’s for Top Honour After a hallmark year of awards and international acclaim, Bosman’s Restaurant in Paarl has been voted as one of the leading nominees in this year’s Eat Out Top 10 Restaurants Awards to be announced in Cape Town on November 28th.

Having just appointed one of only a handful of accredited sommeliers in South Africa, Josephine Gutentoft, Bosman’s has also been awarded the Best of Award of Excellence 2010 by Wine Spectator 16

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To be featured in the Trade Awards section email: editor@tourismtattler.co.za

ATTRACTIONS

Harties Aerial Cableway Reopens

After two years of anticipation, the Aerial Cableway Hartbeesport has officially reopened. New owners took over in 2010 and completely rebuilt the site and the Cableway system itself.

The educational Dassie Walkway and Kids Zone play area keep families engaged for hours, while the more adventurous visitors call on the adventure centre offering paragliding and hiking among other activities, for all their exploratory needs. Pop into the Little Shop at the Top for a momento, curio or gift item or visit the stylish shop at the base station for an array of items from decor, toys, jewellery, novelty items, curios or children’s clothing.

Minister of Tourism, Honourable Marthinus van Schalkwyk officially launched the Aerial Cableway Hartbeespoort on 14 August with fellow environmentalist, Simon Gear managing the proceedings as Master of Ceremonies. This exciting venture promises to boost tourism in the area and Minister van Schalkwyk, alongside local public officials, took the opportunity to confirm commitment to build domestic tourism in the area and South Africa as a whole.

The Magaliesberg is a birdwatchers paradise with over 300 bird species to be found in the area, including the endangered black eagle, falcons, cape vultures and colourful sunbrids, starlings, cuckoos and barbets. First-class conferencing amenities make the Aerial Cableway Hartbeespoort the ideal venue for weddings, special events and corporate functions.

In 2010, Zargodox (Pty) Ltd shared a vision to help grow the Harties region into a pivotal tourism hub.

With the purchase, reconstruction and now reopening of the Harties Aerial Cableway, this vision takes form for the benefit of the community and visitors alike.

Open 7-days a week, and opening at 09h00 daily – one can enjoy a full day of entertainment with the last ride down at 16h30 during winter times. Summer hours will be extended over weekends.

With complete new state of the art management system and equipment, the Aerial Cableway Harbeespoort has successfully been refitted and re-engineered to international specifications boasting fourteen modern Swiss cable cars carrying six passengers each.

Just 45 minutes out of Johannesburg and Pretoria, Africa’s longest mono cableway offers uninterrupted 360° panoramic vistas of the Magaliesberg as well as views of Pretoria and Johannesburg and the splendour of Hartbeespoort Dam. The strategic positioning of the cableway offers a window to the entire area. The Hartbeespoort dam framed by the surrounding Magaliesberg and flanked by local agricultural fields, mines and other industry such as nuclear energy at NECSA as well as the neighbouring human settlements can all be seen from the top of the Aerial Cableway Hartbeespoort.

At the top, various restaurants and facilities provide all the necessities for a fun day out. A 250-seater Bugatti Restaurant at the base station complements the Bugatti Express on top, as well as the Pizza Shack and Lookout Bar offering some of the best views in South Africa.

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Tickets cost R120 p/p and children (4 – 14 years) will pay R60 for a ride. Reservation can be made online through the cableway’s official website (www.hartiescableway.co.za) at discounted prices of R100 and R50 respectively. Telephone: 072 241 2654 / 079 023 3012.

For PCO or Group Tour Operator bookings e-mail: reservations@ hartiescableway.co.za Facebook: www.facebook.com/hartiescableway ▼ Simon Gear, Master of Ceremonies; Craig Saunders, Co-owner and director and Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk celebrate the launch of the Aerial Cableway Hartbeespoort.

ATTRACTIONS

Experience a World of Wonder HISTORY

FACT SHEET The original Hartbeespoort Aerial Cableway was constructed in 1973 and was closed after it fell into disrepair in 2005.

In 2010, Zargodox (Pty) Ltd began a private initiative with the aim of growing tourism in the Hartbeespoort area, purchased the old cableway. In collaboration with Swiss company Rowema AG, Zargodox invested time and expertise into rejuvenating the old cableway and bringing the area back to life.

The cableway has been modernised using the latest materials and technology. New cable cars were supplied by Swiss company CWA Constructions, the largest cabin manufacturer in the world.

New galvanised cables, produced by Swiss company Fatzer AG were installed, and the cableway was fitted and re-engineered according to Canadian Standards Association specifications.

Touch-screen technology, auto cabin spacing and conveyor programming technology, as well as state-of-the-art cabin locators and switches were all incorporated to ensure a comfortable and safe visitor experience.

Fourteen high-tech cable cars, built to carry six passengers at a time and able to transport up to 300 people per hour (roundtrip).

Wildlife education visitor centres in the area form an integral part of the current tourism attractions in Hartbeespoort including the De Wildt Cheetah Farm, Elephant Sanctuary, Monkey & Bush Baby Sanctuary, Ukutula Lion Park and the Vulture Breeding and Rehabilitation project.

A gateway to the entire region, Hartbeespoort offers easy access to other areas of historical, geological, paleontological and ecological significance; such as the Cradle of Human Kind and the Magaliesberg.

The Magaliesberg Range has a very long geological history. Its quartzites, shales, chert and dolomite were deposited as sediments in an inland basin on top of the 3 billion year old Archaean Basement Complex. About 2 billion years ago a massive upwelling of molten magma resulted in what is now known as the Bushveld Igneous Complex. The enormous weight of this intrusion depressed the sediments that lay beneath and tilted the sediments along the edges so that the broken scarps faced outward and upward, and the gentler dip slopes inward. The range forms a natural barrier between the lower lying Bushveld to the north and the cooler Highveld to the south.

The area around the Magaliesberg range has seen extremely lengthy occupation by humans dating back at least 2 million years to the earliest hominin species (such as Mrs Ples) in and around the Sterkfontein Caves, which lie at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, close to the town of Magaliesburg.

Later inhabitants of the mountain range called them the Kashan mountains, after a local chief. By the mid 1800s, one of the more important chiefs of the area was named, Mogale (or Mohale), and the mountains became known as Magaliesberg, or Mogale’s mountain. “Mogale” means “sharp” or “clever” person, but is also the common word for a warrior or Tswana soldier. Similarly, the mountain range to the north, near Sun City, Pilanesberg, was named after the local Bakghatla chiefs, who were called Pilane.

In 1822 Shaka sent his most trusted commander, Mzilikazi, to conquer the Sotho tribes of the region. After accomplishing this task, Mzilikazi decided to break away from Shaka and found his own nation, the Matabele who settled in the Magaliesberg regions.

On 17 January 1837, after some Voortrekkers had been attacked and killed by Mzilikazi’s impis they counter-attacked and, under the leadership of Hendrik Potgieter and Gerrit Maritz, and with the help of local Sotho-Tswana chiefdoms, drove the Matabeles north across the Limpopo River. The Boers initially settled south of the Magaliesberg and began settling in the valleys of the Magaliesberg Range and in the bushveld north of the Magaliesberg which they turned into some of the most productive farmland in South Africa.

The area saw some heavy fighting during the Second Anglo-Boer War. The Boers launched guerrilla attacks on the British soldiers and in response, the British forces built blockhouses on top of the mountains in order to restrict the movement of the Boer forces; ruins of these structures are still to be seen on the mountain. After the war, farms in the area were reoccupied and farming was resumed, tobacco and citrus being particularly successful.

▼ Guests at the Aerial Cableway Hartbeespoort Launch enjoy the cableway

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6

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Tips to Max Your Business Problem Solving Skills If you can’t solve problems and enjoy it, you won’t make it as an entrepreneur, writes Marty Zwilling By definition, an entrepreneur is the first to undertake a given business, and firsts never happen without problems and people frustrations. The toughest problems are people problems, like personnel issues, but there are tough operational problems as well, such as vendor delays.

The real entrepreneurs I know are good at overcoming both people problems and business obstacles, and get satisfaction from the challenge. Some people think this is a talent that you must be born with, but experts disagree. You can definitely train yourself to be a problem solver, if you haven’t already. It’s a key skill for success in every business role, from accountant to customer support.

Here are some basics rules: Practice active listening. Whether it’s a frustrated employee, or a dissatisfied customer, what you first hear is usually someone yelling with emotion or talking so fast the you don’t know what they are talking about. The first thing to do is resist the urge to vocally jump into the fray, and listen attentively without interruption. Often the person will solve their own problem as they are unloading.

Promise action but manage expectations. Calmly commit to resolve the problem, but don’t immediately promise any given

solution. Let the person know that the situation is not simple, and you need some time to investigate the circumstances and alternatives. Then give an expected time frame for an answer, and move to the next stage.

Investigate thoroughly. There are at least two sides to every problem. Don’t assume anything, and gather facts from all relevant parties. If it’s a judgment or fair treatment question, practice your active listening with each party. If a problem requires special expertise, like a tax question, do your homework or call an expert.

Provide regular progress updates to all. Status communication is critical, if the resolution time is going to be longer than one day, even if you have given an expected time from longer than one day.

This is probably the most important step and probably the most neglected. If they hear nothing, unhappy people get progressively harder to satisfy.

Make a timely decision. Meet your committed time frame for a resolution. Schedule enough face-to-face time (not email or text message) to lay out your understanding of the problem, facts you have assembled, options that you considered, and your decision reached, with reasoning behind it. If possible, let the person with the problem chose from alternatives, so you get more “buy-in.” Put the decision in writing to prevent ambiguity.

Follow-up. No matter how smooth the resolution, you need to re-confirm the decision with affected parties within hours or days.

This reaffirms you commitment to the process, their satisfaction, and avoids any secondary problems. If the problem was a business process, get the process update documented and communicated to all.

Here’s a big problem.

Your job is to divide it into smaller problems and blame it on other people.

It’s critical to train everyone on your team on these principles, if you want an effective business. Your goal in all of this is to be a role model and get respect for you own position, as well as to empower team members to effectively solve problems for you and for your customers directly.

Problems happen, that’s part of life and people usually understand that. They are an everyday part of every business and personal environment. In fact, every business is about solutions to customer problems – no problems, no business.

Entrepreneurs who are great problem solvers within the business are the best prepared to solve their customers’ needs effectively as well. But in both cases, forcing a smile is not an alternative to the techniques described above. Your team and your customers will see right through it.

For more information visit: www.startupprofessionals.com 20

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Retirement Age

ACHIEVEMENTS & ACCOLADES BUSINESS & FINANCE

The Employer’s Challenge

Our law does not provide for a national or general age at which employees have to, or may retire, writes Barney Jordaan Contracts of employment may of course contain an agreed retirement age, in which case the employer may ask the employee to leave employment once he or she has reached the agreed age.

This is obviously subject to any special conditions provided for in the contract, e.g. that the employee only retires at the end of the year in which he or she has reached the agreed retirement age.

The Labour Relations Act (s 187) prohibits discrimination on the basis of, among others, age. The LRA also provides, though, that the dismissal of someone who has reached the ‘agreed’ or ‘normal’ retirement age does not constitute unfair discrimination. What is ‘normal’ depends on what is generally accepted practice for the profession, sector, enterprise or job that the employee occupies.

One can obviously not compel employees to retire before they have reached the agreed or normal retirement age. Doing so constitutes an automatically unfair dismissal and establishes a claim for compensation in terms of section 187 of the LRA, as well as a claim for unfair discrimination under section 6 of the EEA. However, the labour courts have gone further and decided that these provisions mean that an employer who permits an employee to work beyond the agreed or normal retirement age, may at any time thereafter issue a notice of termination in accordance with the employee’s contract of employment, and so ends his/her services.

While this constitutes a dismissal, it is protected from scrutiny if the reason for the termination is the employee’s age. If it is anything else, however, e.g. misconduct, incapacity or operational requirements, the normal rules of unfair dismissal apply.

The retirement age found in the rules of a retirement fund does not

automatically constitute an ‘agreed’ retirement age. The contract of employment itself must provide for a retirement age, or the rules of the fund must be incorporated with the contract of employment by reference.

What is the position if there is no agreed retirement age? May the employer impose one, and then force employees who have reached this age to retire?

The courts have provided the following answers to some of these questions: • Normal and agreed retirement ages are mutually exclusive: they cannot co-exist. Therefore, if there is an agreed retirement age the question of a normal age doesn’t arise.

• Where no retirement age has been agreed, an employer may establish and enforce a normal retirement age for its employees.

However, it is incumbent on employers in this instance to first consult with affected employees regarding a date of retirement and to ensure that the date is in line with practice for the positions or relevant professions of the employees. The employer also needs to consider ways to accommodate employees close to the new retirement age to alleviate any hardship, and needs to be reasonable with regard to the implementation date of the new age.

• A retirement age cannot be imposed retrospectively, i.e. after the employee has already reached that age.

Employers would be well advised to provide for a retirement age in their contracts of employment.

Barney Jordaan of Maserumule Consulting writes for Labourwise, which is an on-line labour relations service aimed at assisting employers with the implementation of effective labour relations. For more information visit: www.labourwise.co.za or email: info@labourwise.co.za SEPTEMBER 2012

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

Is Your Superstar Employee Really Helping Your Business?

As your business gets more complex, those early superstar employees can actually hurt progress. Here’s why, writes Les McKeown.

Building a business that can scale involves many rites of passage. The first, and usually the most difficult, is firing the people who stand in your way. And it’s usually that star employee that has to go.

The need to remove top performers usually occurs when it’s time to institute more systems and processes because your growing business has become more complex.

To a founder/owner or business leader, the path seems simple. Install the required systems and processes, get through this brief period of whitewater, then grow the business to new heights using the new systems and processes as a solid bedrock for doing so.

But there’s usually one person (or maybe more than one) for whom this isn’t so obvious: the maverick big dog (MBD).

Meet the Maverick Big Dog ‘Big dogs’ are the hard-charging, get-it-done operators who worked every hour God sends (and some) to build the success of the business in the early days. Loyal to a fault and powerfully effective, the big dog quickly builds sweat equity with the founding group by sheer effort. Most visionary business leaders have at least one big dog without whom they know they would not - could not - have built a successful business.

Big dogs are good in the early days of a business. But when the business grows and becomes more complex, some big dogs switch from being a great asset to being a painful liability.

For maverick big dogs, the imposition of systems and processes does two things, both of which for them, are incredibly painful: • it greatly dilutes their previously hard-earned freedom and autonomy, and • it threatens their special relationship with the leadership group.

The problem for the founder/owner or business leader isn’t just the existence of a newly disgruntled big dog. It’s the resulting threat to the entire organization.

Because at their worst, MBD’s don’t just buckle down and work through the new situation they find themselves in. Instead, they rankle at the process-driven, cross-functional approach that’s required.

They cavil, whine, whinge, complain, undermine, and generally make life difficult for everyone working with and around them. They cause dissension, build an insurgent group of like-minded people and force on to the organization a ‘them and us’ mindset.

How to identify a MBD Signs that you have a maverick big dog on your hands include if one of your employees says following: • ”We never get anything done around here anymore. All we do is talk, talk, talk.”

• “What do you want me to do – sit in meetings all day or get this [insert important task] done?”

• ”Back in the day...things used to be different.”

• ”We’re not the business we used to be. We’ve lost our family feeling / soul / culture.”

• ”Nobody respects the old ways of doing things anymore.”

Before, the MBDs came and went as they pleased. They were at the top of the totem pole and occupied a special place in the organization--the one that they had carved out through hard work and sacrifice. They essentially set their own agenda, safe in the knowledge that the strong bond of loyalty they had built with the founder/owner protected them from anyone else’s interference.

You’ll be faced with some or all of these dilemmas while you ponder what to do with them – but there’s only one solution, if you’re going to build a scalable business: Fire the maverick big dog that’s holding you back.

Now with new systems and processes in place, the maverick big dog is expected to complete the same forms, attend the same meetings, submit the same reports as everyone else.

Les McKeown is the author of the best-seller, Predictable Success: Getting Your Organization On the Growth Track - and Keeping It There and is the CEO of Predictable Success, a leading advisor on accelerated organizational growth. His latest book is The Synergist: How to Lead Your Team to Predictable Success.

And guess what? They hate it.

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For more information visit: http://www.predictablesuccess.com

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Recruiting a Financial Planner In the complex world of financial planning we all need a little honest guidance. Many of us have either heard of or experienced, first hand, poor financial planning advice. Many financial advisers are only focused on the transaction [commission] and not on the overall process and the client connection. Many of us can feel let down by this lack of care, diligence and attention. We also don’t know how to deal with this disappointment, writes Nigel Willmott, CFP® professional.

Establish an open, up-front and honest relationship Be honest with the planner and ensure that the planner is honest with you. This cannot be one sided.

Preferably, look out for the CFP® [CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ® professional] designation The CFP® mark stands as a benchmark that indicates that the financial planner exhibits a high level of competency and ethics.

Shop around for an appropriate financial planner To assist you in this process you can go to www.fpi.co.za and source a financial planner that fits your needs.

Check the financial planner’s FSB licence status What is the financial planner licenced to sell? What are they not licensed to sell? In terms of FAIS there are certain disclosures that the financial planner must make to you up front. Insist on knowing these.

In the first instance many of us don’t have the right tools to engage a financial planner. Here is a step by step guide that will get you going. Consider this;

Enter into a service contract Many consumers get caught in the “wham-bam thank you mam” transaction trap where there is no ongoing service. This is often the transaction based, commission drive. Rather enter into a service contract. Let it be clear what you are being charged, what you will get for those charges, what the financial planner’s functions are as well as understanding your role and responsibility in the relationship.

The service contract must be measurable. Review it every year.

Stipulate what happens if there is under performance.

1. Retirement Myths

3. 11 questions to ask a financial planner

My company pension fund will be enough Think again. Many company retirement funds only contribute in the region of between 7 and 12% of your monthly salary. Depending on your age you may need to be aiming for somewhere between 15 to 30% savings levels. If you never preserved your withdrawal benefits previously and cashed your fund credits out when you resigned then this will compound the situation.

To assist you in this engagement process here are eleven questions that are sure to ruffle the feathers; Are you an independent financial planner or a tied agent?

What are your relevant industry qualifications?

Are you a registered member of a financial or industry professional body?

Are you licensed with the Financial Services Board?

Are you suitably accredited to dispense advice?

Describe your relevant experience and knowledge Describe your financial planning process What are you not licensed to sell?

How are you remunerated?

Are you a fee earner or a commission earner?

Which service providers do you recommend and why?

My expenses will decrease in retirement Maybe, but your medical expenses will rise dramatically. If you thought that your 30 and 40 something year old children are out of your hair think again – hard times are falling on your children and some of them are thinking of moving back home….with their children.

I can’t afford proper financial advice You can. Once you learn how to engage a financial planner you will also be able to learn how to have a discussion about fees for service.

I am too young to think about retirement planning From your first pay you should consider setting aside money towards longer term savings. The younger the better. Compound interest is a miracle worker.

I am too old to start saving now Never too old. You can start saving at any stage and continue saving.

This should get you prepared when dealing with a financial planner for the first time or even reviewing current service providers. If you are already in a “relationship” of sorts put these steps to the test.

What have you got to lose? Nothing, if anything you may expose some inefficiencies and you will see some drastic improvements…. plus some street credit and respect of your new found line of questioning and interrogation.

Part Two of this article will follow in the Tattler October edition.

Good luck..keep them honest!

I will only need enough income for 15 years in retirement Not true. Many of us are living longer in retirement – 20 to 30 years on average. This means longer income needs and ensuring that you meet your expenses in retirement. What you do now will have an impact on the level of income and the duration of the income during retirement.

Nigel Willmott CFP® is the Managing Director of motivate | today, an independent holistic financial life skills company focused on the financial education needs of employer groups, universities and schools.

2. Getting started – Employing a Financial Guide For further information visit:

When engaging a financial planner for the first time consider the following;

www.motivatetoday.co.za SEPTEMBER 2012

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CONSERVATION

RHINO KILLING

South Africa meets Hong Kong A high level South African delegation visited Hong Kong in August and have identified information exchange, awareness and education, enforcement and technologysharing with authorities there as central to efforts aimed at addressing wildlife crime, especially the on-going scourge of rhino poaching in South Africa, writes Albi Modise.

The Hong Kong engagement follows the seizure late last year of rhino horns and worked elephant ivory by customs officials there.

South Africa aims to send a team of experts to collect DNA samples from the seized rhino horn in a month’s time. The collection of DNA samples will aid in establishing the origin of the rhino horns and lead to possible prosecutions. The collection of the samples is however dependant on the signing of the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between the South African and the government of Hong Kong. These samples are central in assisting the law enforcement agencies in identifying the possible origins of the confiscated items that are currently held by the Hong Kong customs.

The 33 pieces of rhino horn weighing 86.54kg and 127 pieces of ivory bracelets and 759 pieces of ivory chopsticks with a combined weight of 22.24kg is the largest recorded consignment of illegally traded rhino horn and elephant ivory originating from South Africa which has been seized outside of the country.

The request for assistance and cooperation with the Hong Kong authorities is in line with an agreement between Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to cooperate and assist each other in the fight against the illegal trade in CITES-listed species.

On 10 April 2012, Minister Molewa gazetted the norms and standards for the marking of rhinoceros horn and for the hunting of rhinoceros for trophy hunting purposes in Gazette No. 35248 for immediate implementation. With regard to DNA profiling, the norms and standards state that when live rhinoceros are darted for translocation, treatment or any other management purpose, samples of the horns and blood must be collected by using the DNA kits provided by the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory. Currently, the bank has over 5000 rhino DNA samples and matches can be made with either hunted or poached animals. This evidence can then be used in a court of law to assist with a guilty verdict of an offender.

This will enable South Africa to identify and link confiscated horns to a specific rhino, thereby identifying the source of the horns and whether or not it was removed illegally.

Since the beginning of this year, a total of 356 rhinos have been lost to illegal killings in South Africa. The continued efforts by the South African government to curb rhino poaching have resulted in a total of 187 arrests for 2012 thus far. 164 of the total arrests are at the level of poachers, 10 are receivers or couriers, six (6) are couriers or buyers and seven (7) of the arrested are exporters.

South Africa is home to approximately 22 000 white and black rhinoceros of which 12 000 are found in the Kruger National Park.

This represents 93% of the world’s total rhino population. The South African population is one of the last viable rhino populations in the world which makes it vulnerable. South Africa is the remaining hope for the rhino conservation globally and recognises that the global 24

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September 22, 2012 community support and co-operation must be enlisted to address the scourge.

South Africa has, among others, also put in place the following interventions to curb rhino poaching: • The publication and implementation of the norms and standards for the marking of rhinoceros horn and for the hunting of rhinoceros for trophy hunting purposes. The norms and standards state that all rhino horns whether acquired by a legal dehorning procedure, natural mortality or any other means; must be microchipped. As mentioned previously, DNA samples of the rhino horn and blood must be collected from all live rhino darted for translocation, treatment or any other management purpose.

Furthermore, hunting applications must be accompanied by amongst others, proof of membership to a hunting association and proof of previous experience in hunting of any African species. In addition, a hunting client may only hunt one white rhino for trophy hunting purposes in a twelve month period. As a result, the government of South Africa have not received any hunting permit requests from the alleged consumers of rhino horn: Vietnam, Thailand or China since the implementation of the norms and standards.

• The Council of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has approved funding to the tune of R25m that will be injected into efforts aimed at strengthening the current wildlife forensic capabilities in South Africa to combat wildlife crimes such as wildlife trafficking.

• The Department of Environmental Affairs has appealed to the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to conduct inspections and verify that the white rhinoceros trophies exported from South Africa to Vietnam are still in the possession of the hunters. Vietnamese authorities have failed to confirm this in writing and as a result, the Department has recommended to all conservation authorities that hunting permits for white rhinos be refused to all Vietnamese citizens.

• Adding to the 500 rangers deployed at the Kruger National Park, an additional 150 rangers have been deployed to fight rhino poaching. The park has become the most targeted by rhino poachers having lost a total of 187 rhinos to illegal killing since the beginning of this year. The South African National Defence Force has also returned to the 350km of national border in Kruger National Park and other country borders.

The South African government would like to urge all NonGovernment Organisations and organisations involved in fighting rhino poaching to continue working together with law enforcement agencies and research institutions to utilise science based evidence for the conviction of alleged poachers. South Africans are also urged to report any illegal rhino activities that they are aware of to 0800 205 005.

CONSERVATION

Lion Guardians The Hwange Lion Project (HLP) has been operational for 12 years in and around Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. The project has made significant strides in conserving and managing lions in the region. Since 2007 a significant component of the project has focused on conflict between local villagers and lions. The next step is to implement sustainable interventions to address these conflict issues, writes Brian Courtenay, Chairman of the SATIB Trust.

Problem to be addressed Predation on livestock by large carnivores is a significant problem, particularly on the Eastern boundary of the park where villages are directly adjacent to the park boundary with a poorly defined buffer zone. This leads to intense human-wildlife conflicts in villages close to the park boundary. Between 2007 and 2010 HLP recorded 365 predation incidents, 228 of which were caused by lions, 116 by spotted hyaena and the remainder by leopard and cheetah. By themselves, lions killed 425 head of livestock - predominantly cattle, oxen and donkeys - the main source of wealth and draught power in the local communities. Lion predation is distinctly seasonal with peaks during the wet season (when wild prey species are widely dispersed and domestic stock is poorly herded). HLP’s findings show that 78% of predation incidents occur at night and only 8% of stock losses occur in protective bomas (corrals). This suggests that improved herding practices such as day-time tending of stock and use of protective bomas to protect stock at night are methods that could reduce losses and help to alleviate conflicts.

One of the consequences of livestock predation is retaliatory killing of lions and other carnivores by the people affected by depredations.

Since 2007, twenty-eight lions have been killed in retaliation for livestock predation (because retaliatory killing is illegal lion mortalities are often concealed). This is currently the most significant source of mortality in the Hwange lion population.

Interventions There is an urgent need to engage with the local community to limit the need for retaliatory killing by introducing and assisting with better livestock husbandry. One method of doing so is to recruit local people to provide an effective interface with the community.

Such a scheme has been implemented with good success by the Living with Lions project in Kenya. Here, young men (lion guardians) are recruited and trained to mitigate conflicts between carnivores and people - by actively protecting the carnivores and by warning herders when lions are in the vicinity. This has resulted in significant reduction in killing of lions by local people. HLP propose to replicate this scheme in the Hwange context.

Project set up and training

Shields’, a named derived from the name of the local tribal groupthe amaNdebele – ‘The People of the Long Shields’ (so named because historically Ndebele warriors carried long rawhide shields).

By using a locally relevant name, HLP hope to tap into the cultural importance to livestock protection and traditional knowledge of livestock husbandry.

The initial project will recruit (with the help of the local village headmen and village councils) 8-10 community scouts from the local community and expand this number should the initiative prove successful and funding allow. Scouts will initially receive 3-4 months of basic training in field skills, first aid, use of GPS, data recording, monitoring and livestock protection techniques and report writing.

HLP are also exploring the possibility of receiving training from the Centre for Holistic Management (a local initiative that has developed communal livestock herding and protection systems). As part of the initial set-up and training, HLP propose that the project’s trainer/ manager would visit the Living with Lions project in Kenya in order to apply lessons learned to this project.

Project operation The scouts will be equipped with bicycles and basic camping gear to allow them to effectively cover the relatively large distances involved.

They will be managed by one of the existing project staff, who will also organise the training sessions. The cellular phone network in the area is improving rapidly, which will allow effective communication between manager and scouts. Once trained and deployed, community scouts will investigate and record conflict incidents, advise and assist local people in improving livestock husbandry practices (such as use of satellite bomas, improved boma design, communal herding and protection of vulnerable stock). Scouts will also monitor local wildlife through a series of predetermined transects to be walked monthly (recording both wildlife sightings and spoor). Scouts will monitor lion movements and provide information to herders to limit carnivore-livestock interactions and assist people in finding and retrieving lost livestock. At this stage information on lion movements will be provided by the Hwange Lion Project based on positions of known radio-collared lions. At a later stage HLP hope to provide the training and infrastructure to allow community scouts to undertake part of this monitoring themselves.

It is important to inform and engage the community at large – HLP will do this through community workshops to explain the scope of the project and ensure that solutions are community led rather than externally imposed and thus more likely to be sustainable over the long term.

SATIB Trust are the project coordinators on this project and are seeking donor funding. Contact: bcourtenay@satibtrust.com

HLP have tentatively considered naming this initiative ‘The Long SEPTEMBER 2012

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ENVIRONMENT

ECO-ENTREPRENEURS needed to save our earth

entrepreneur, and our capitalist system eco-entrepreneurs and green capitalism can and will fix the planet.

Whilst capitalism is certainly responsible for most, if not all our current environmental problems – it is also the most effective tool we have to address the environmental crisis we face. We have used capitalism and markets to allocate hunger, starvation and death but now need to employ these same tools in a more ‘enlightened’ way, to restore our natural capital, create sustainable jobs, and build resilient communities, writes Jason Drew.

With nearly one billion people hungry and another billion people overweight or obese, something clearly is not working. Having watched the recent credit crunch unfold, I saw many similarities in the way our environmental and food production systems were - and are - being stretched to breaking point. With food demand outstripping supply, food prices will inevitably increase. Food price inflation brings with it civil unrest and political turmoil, as we have witnessed in the first months of 2011. Social order has already started to collapse in many failed states like Sudan and Afghanistan. In our interconnected global world, state failure may become contagious as environmental refugees migrate to survive.

In this sustainability revolution - as in all revolutions, we, as individuals, need to take the lead. It will be one of the most exciting rewarding and profitable periods in history – and one of the most dangerous. We have no choice but to get busy repairing our future.

Let me explain.

As a lifelong capitalist and serial entrepreneur, I spent the last 25 years of my life fighting and winning in the game of business – from running other people’s multinational companies, to creating and selling my own. Two heart attacks later, I exchanged the struggles of the boardroom for a passion for life and moved to live full time on my farm in South Africa’s beautiful Tulbagh Valley. This ignited a passion and concern for the environment. I have since spent the last four years travelling the world to personally see the damage that man is wreaking on our vital eco-systems.

I began to understand the extraordinary and unexpected connections between many things I saw: from the teeming masses of China’s cities to the fertile plains of the Indus Valley and the dry rivers of America’s Mid-West – to name but a few. I began to realise the complexity of Nature and how the environment has shaped our past - and will determine our future.

The credit crunch has shaken our global economy, but it will recover. ‘The Protein Crunch’ is far more serious and, if we open our eyes, it is unfolding right in front of us. Our food – protein – comes from three sources: our water, land and seas. All of these natural resources are under increasing pressure from our burgeoning population: when more demand meets less supply, we arrive at what I term ‘The Protein Crunch’. The title of my book – a capitalist’s view on the environment.

Our current understanding and use of the powerful capitalist and free market systems system is flawed. Greed has driven our planet and species to the edge of selfdestruction.

Just 100 years ago, it would have been inconceivable to think that the human impact on the environment might become as great as to threaten the Earth and our own survival. We now stand at a turning point in our history and in the history of the Earth. Humankind has acquired the scale and the power to wreck the biosphere on which we depend – as well as the knowledge to fix it. Using the power of the 26

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Every day, newspapers cover some element of this looming issue: mine water pollution in Johannesburg, Chinese land purchases in the Congo, a single tuna sold for $740,000 in Tokyo, floods in Pakistan and the food price riots that ignited North Africa. Few of us understand the causes of these crises and events, let alone how they are all connected. Most of these issues are induced by environmental degradation and reflected through our capitalist system into our everyday lives in the form of changing prices, patterns of supply, movements of humanity, and the financial value of assets.

As some of these ecosystems become less productive or fail altogether, the speed and severity of ‘The Protein Crunch’ will accelerate. The way we respond to these environmental challenges is a matter of life and death, first for the poorest then for the rest of us. Many civilizations have collapsed before ours, but will we be the first to foresee our demise and prevent it? I believe we will. I see the early signs of a grassroots sustainability revolution happening every day.

We have been living through the Industrial revolution for the last two hundred years. This commodity exploitation cycle has used in the last fifty years alone more than half our planet’s natural resources. Within that cycle, we have seen mini-boom bust cycles or bubbles come and go. From the South China Sea bubble to the 17th century Tulip and the more recent Dot Com bubbles. When these bubbles are creating themselves – those inside cannot understand those looking in, and dismiss them as lacking the understanding or skills to ‘get with the bubble’. The same has happened with environmentalists and those inside the 200-year-old environmental exploitation bubble. Whilst business people like myself talked about win-win deals – we failed to understand that the constant loser was the environment - in almost every business deal struck in the last few centuries. The predominantly anti-business environmentalists were ignored by those inside the bubble.

This industrial revolution bubble is as you read this being replaced by the new Sustainability Revolution. This revolution unlike the industrial revolution bubble is much more inclusive and consensus driven yet still capitalist.

Broken environments lead to broken societies and civilizations – from Somalia to the Yemen this is playing itself out. At an individual level across the world there are millions of small organizations busy fixing broken parts of our environment. There is a wider consciousness and understanding of the environment and its impact on us every day.

The internet has given us an extraordinary tool to have our voice heard – a voice that has been lost in our current broken democracy.

ENVIRONMENT

Petition communities like Avaaz now have over ten million members – joining force on many issues – often to force companies or governments to address environmental issues. This is now a revolutionary force – with real power.

Their power is derived from the fact that members of organisations like Avaaz are the markets that businesses serve. They are also the shareholders of these businesses. The revolutionaries are people like us – who live in and profit from the capitalist system and want it to continue. We all understand that for it to continue companies need to look further than this quarter’s profit and our politicians to look further than the next elections.

None of us would want to invest our pension funds in businesses that are unlikely to be around in twenty or thirty years – and most rational people know that only sustainable business will survive.

Business leaders like Coca Cola have understood this and their worldwide tie-up with WWF to manage with the local communities the watersheds on which they depend. This has stirred a greater understanding of the environment across its business model – a revolution that would have been unthinkable a short while ago.

General Electric from the top down has also understood sustainability and is re-defining its future in terms of it. Businesses that do not join the revolution will attract less capital and fewer customers and therefore fail in the long run. Already, there are over $40 trillion in funds that only invest in sustainable businesses and this will soon reach a tipping point where funds withdraw from old economy businesses. At a macro level, capitalism is starting to work to drive the sustainability revolution that will become self-fulfilling and far sooner than we think. Revolutions used to take decades – but as we have seen in the Middle East and North Africa – now they sometimes only take months.

At a micro level, our human ingenuity is also transforming smaller businesses that see the opportunity to grow and deliver into this sustainability revolution.

As a lifelong capitalist and now eco-entrepreneur, I have seen and become involved with some extraordinary businesses around the world. Three of these provide unusual and interesting examples of how entrepreneurs and academics can join the sustainability revolution.

AgriProtein, in conjunction with Stellenbosch University, has developed a business that recycles abattoir waste into useable protein for animal feed at a fraction of the price of existing natural sources. One third of all the fish we take from our seas are ground into fishmeal and used in industrial animal farming of fish and chickens as well as in pet food. This company has developed a largescale fly farming operation that develops fly eggs into larvae fed on waste nutrients. These larvae are then harvested and dried to make Magmeal - a high protein and natural replacement for fishmeal. Fish in streams and chickens in fields would naturally eat larvae. This business is profitably and naturally saving the seas!

Oxitec - a spin off from Oxford University in the UK - breeds genetically modified male mosquitoes of the type that carries Dengue Fever.

These GM Mosquitoes carry one gene that makes them glow red under UV light so that they can be identified. The male also carries a second gene that effectively kills its offspring. Female mosquitoes are the only ones that pass the disease through biting, so releasing males is safe. The male mosquitoes when released, breed with wild females

and rapidly reduce the disease-carrying mosquito populations. Not only is this approach environmentally benign compared to the use of chemicals, but also chemicals themselves have been shown to be ineffective at controlling the very rapid spread of dengue fever around the world in the last few years. The business is carrying field trials on a number of continents and expects to be a profitable and sustainable business.

EWF energy in Europe has borrowed wind-accelerating techniques from aircraft wing construction (wind flows faster over a curved surface) to accelerate wind into its turbines. Using direct drive technology – originally developed for Formulae One race-car brakes – it dispenses with the traditional gearboxes. The units are small and light enough to fit on the average commercial building rooftop – and each one provides the power used by 200 homes – or the building it sits on!

All of these could be billion dollar businesses within the next 10 years. I firmly believe that the next Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg will have made their fortunes in the business of the saving the environment.

It seems that our brains are wired to react to emergencies, but if the threat is not immediate, we find it hard to galvanise ourselves into action. It is as if we are floating down a river heading towards a waterfall, ignoring the roar of the water and waiting until we see the foaming water, before we react and then look for someone else to blame for our predicament.

What the Earth needs is for many more of us to understand our predicament, and drive the sustainability revolution we need to survive. There will be no time to waste looking for scapegoats: we need to move and make change happen fast. Capitalism and entrepreneurial drive are what we need to harness to create this change at the pace at which we need it.

Until recently, I understood neither the unbelievable risks we are running nor the extraordinary opportunities for entrepreneurs and eco-capitalists like myself. I am now committed full time to making a difference to the world we live in – through creating more awareness of the environment and excitement about the business opportunities it can bring us all. The clock is ticking. We are in a race between education and catastrophe.

Let’s get busy repairing the future.

For more information visit: http://www.theproteincrunch.com/theauthors.html

About the author: Jason Drew is a serial entrepreneur turned environmentalist.

He chairs a number of organisations including www.AgriProtein.com, his latest green venture. Born in London, Jason studied at the European Business School in London and has lived and worked all over the world before moving to South Africa seven years ago. He has held leadership roles in a number of international businesses from General Electric to BUPA and Egg before leading the start-up of Africa’s leading outsourced services provider, with over 3,000 staff.

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EVENTS

Invitation to Exhibit at

TAFI Convention 2012

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) is to hold its 2012 Convention in Durban from 05-08 October 2012. This event is being proudly hosted by SATSA and sponsored by Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, in the beautiful city of Durban, writes Marjorie Dean.

This is a major event in the tourism calendar in India, and we are delighted to host it in South Africa for the first time. More than 1000 delegates (businessmen, entrepreneurs and travel agency owners, are expected to attend). Between them they are collectively responsible for 70 per cent of all the outbound long-haul tickets sold within India.

In India, travel agents prefer to sell products of which they have had personal experience, therefore the opportunity to see and experience a wide range of South African product will give all those who participate in this convention a significant marketing edge in this growing market.

To enable South African companies to take full advantage of this unique event, we have designed an Exhibition Area that will allow SATSA members and South African product a significant opportunity to market your wares to this influential group of travel professionals in our own back yard.

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Sponsorship opportunities exist at all levels. From lanyards, pens and pencils and notebooks to teas and lunches, water bottles and car hire. We are happy to offer part and co- sponsorships for the opening and closing events.

For more information contact Bunny Bhoola on +27 83 632 2420 or +27 333 453175 or email: bunny@africanlink.co.za

HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE: ADVERTISING: The Tourism Tattler will be distributed to delegates at the TAFI Convention. Contact Beverley for special rates bev@tourismtattler.co.za EXHIBIT: Secure your space (3m x 3m sq.) in the Exhibition Area. Confirmation Forms can be obtained from: events@ africalinktours.co.za

The Exhibition Opportunities brochure can be downloaded at: http://www.tourismtattler.co.za/downloads/taficonvention2012.pdf

EVENTS

named as Sports and Events Tourism Exchange

SETE Conference Sponsor

CATHSSETA (Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality, Sports Sector Education and Training Authority) have recently joined this year’s Sports and Events Tourism Exchange (SETE) conference as naming sponsors, writes, Rene Staack.

As one of 21 SETA’s (sector education and training authority) in South Africa, the partnership of CATHSSETA with the high profile SETE conference is sure to bolster what is already shaping up to be an influential event, featuring the National Sports Tourism Steering committee’s presentation of the national sports tourism strategy, as well as presentations, debates and discussions with a number of high profile international and local speakers.

CATHSSETA are indeed a fitting sponsor for the conference, which itself looks to stimulate the exchange of ideas that will enhance the sport, tourism, and event industries in South Africa. According to Mike Tsotetsi, CATHSSETA CEO, “following South Africa’s successful hosting of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, sports and events tourism was identified as one of the biggest avenues to be pursued and supported in order to boost South African tourism and contribute to the economic growth of the country”.

Held at the ICC Durban later this year, both the SETE conference and exhibition (12-14 September) will look to facilitate relationships between South Africa’s tourism, sport and event industries and promote the country as a popular sports and events destination. To this end, the SETE exhibition will feature an estimated 100 exhibitors as well as over 60 international hosted buyers (IHB’s), whilst the conference programme will include presentations and panel discussions anchored by keynote speakers who are all specialists within their respective fields. The National Sports Tourism Steering committee that was appointed at last year’s SETE conference will also be presenting the national sports tourism strategy at the conference, outlining the key sports events which SASCOC and its partners will be bidding for until 2030. Focused on identifying the key events which will require government’s support between 2013 and 2030, the plan will be discussed and finalized at the conference.

The Sports and Events Tourism Exchange is hosted by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism KZN, and partnered by CATHSSETA, SASCOC.

Tsotetsi also said that “CATHSSETA has a responsibility to facilitate skills development within South Africa by creating strategic partnerships to ensure a meaningful contribution to economic growth across our sports tourism and other sectors. The SETE conference is an existing platform which attracts important decision makers and key industry stakeholders, and our involvement therefore ensures that we have the opportunity to promote our objectives by engaging with the relevant audience at a proven successful annual event”.

In support of these objectives, CATHSSETA’s primary aim is to create an environment that allows the youth better employment opportunities through skills development and training within the sports tourism industry, whilst also addressing the shortage of skills in critical areas. “CATHSSETA is looking to realise the government’s priorities of social cohesion and economic growth through tourism and sport, both of have been identified as playing a catalytic role in attracting global tourism for South Africa, and therefore the SETE conference has value for CATHSSETA as it presents a platform for the sharing of ideas around issues central to the sports tourism industry”.

According to Director for Business Development at TEPG and SETE Conference Director Sugen Pillay, “as the official training authority for sport and tourism, CATHSSETA’s participation in this year’s SETE confirms the importance of skills development within the sports and tourism industries. Major international sports events like the Olympics demand high levels of service excellence and therefore CATHSSETA’s role will add value to the industry’s attempts at bringing more international events to South Africa, one of SETE’s core objectives”.

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HOSPITALITY

Turnaround for South Africa’s hospitality sector Continued economic growth, rising tourism and slower growth in the number of available rooms will lead to a recovery in hotel occupancy rates, writes Nikki Forster.

Despite the recent economic uncertainty, South Africa’s hospitality industry for 2012 to 2016 is expected to improve with the demand for rooms anticipated to grow faster than supply and the overall occupancy rate to show a strong increase in growth, according to a report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

PwC’s 2nd edition of the South African hospitality outlook: 2012 – 2016 projects that by the year 2016, occupancy across all accommodation sectors will average 53.9%. Historical data was derived from PwC’s analysis of Smith Travel Research and Statistics South Africa combined with other information on industry trends.

In 2008, South Africa was affected by the financial crisis. As a result growth was slowed sharply during the latter part of the year, with occupancy rates plunging, falling from 71.8% in 2007 to 53% in 2011, an 18.8-percentage-point decline. The report forecasts that the average hotel occupancy rate will improve in 2012 and increase by 9.1 percentage points to 62.1% in 2016.

Increase in numbers The number of travellers to South Africa increased 14.8% in 2010 in the wake of the FIFA World Cup. Although the number of visitors from Europe is down, the increase in tourists from other African countries and the Asia-Pacific region are a boost to the industry and returns in revenue. However, somewhat slower growth is anticipated for domestic travel. The number of domestic travellers will increase by a projected 3.3% compounded annually to 6.4 million in 2016.

The overall number of available rooms decreased 0.2% in 2011 due to a decline in the number of rooms at guest houses and in other accommodation categories.

Guest houses In 2012, guest houses are expected be to the fastest-growing category, averaging 4.2% compounded annually, according to the study.

Occupancy rates Not much new construction activity is being planned in the industry.

However, some hotels are being upgraded. The report forecasts occupancy rates to turn around for hotels, increase for guest houses and rebound for caravan and camping sites, bush lodges and other accommodation.

Revenues Given the increased number of foreign visitors to South Africa in 2011 and the projected growth in tourists, four-star hotels are anticipated to benefit more from the increase in tourism than threestar hotels and project revenues to grow at a 9% compound annual rate to R5.2 billion in 2016 from R3.4 billion in 2011.

The fast-pace of growth in the five-star sector is also expected to be seen in occupancy, which is forecast to increase from 51.4% in 2011 to 70.5% in 2016.

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The study projects occupancy rates to edge downward from 2013 for guest houses, although they are expected to remain higher than they were during 2007- 2010. Occupancy rates for caravan and camping sites, bush lodges and other accommodation are expected to be relatively steady over the 2012-2016 periods.

Average room rates There is a large disparity in average room rates between hotels, guest houses, caravan and camping sites and bush lodges.

The study shows that hotels appeal to top business travellers and the high-end vacation market. On the other hand, guest houses and guest farms target consumers looking for comfortable accommodation and local flavour. Caravan and camping sites, bush lodges and other accommodation market to people looking for inexpensive accommodation, while game lodges appeal to visitors interested in outdoor activities.

The report shows that caravan and camping sites, bush lodges and other accommodation will continue to be the fastest-growing category, averaging 7.5% compounded annually, but this growth will be at a slower rate than the double-digit annual gains seen over the past five years.

Average rates for hotels will rise at a 4.6% compound annual rate, while guest houses will be the slowest-growing category with a projected 0.3% compound annual increase.

Total room revenue The report shows that hotels will continue to generate the majority of accommodation revenue during the next five years. Growth is projected to average 8.7% compounded annually, comparable to the overall compound annual increase for all accommodation of 8.8%. Hotel room revenue is forecast to expand to R14.6 billion in 2016, up 8.7% compounded annually from 2011.

Caravan and camping sites, bush lodges and other accommodation will be the fastest growing category with a projected 11.1% compound annual increase, raising its share of the market from 18.9% in 2011 to 21% in 2016. Guest houses and guest farms are predicted to be the slowest-growing category of the overall accommodation market with a 4.4% compound annual increase, dropping its share of total spending to 7.6% in 2016 from 9.3% in 2011.

About PricewaterhouseCoopers: PwC firms help organisations and individuals create the value they’re looking for. PwC is a network of firms in 158 countries with close to 169,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory services.

For more information, visit: http://www.pwc.com

HOSPITALITY

A Proud History in Golf Cart Quality For more than 100 years, Cushman has been synonymous with rugged, dependable, and versatile work machines built to get the job done at job sites and in work environments ranging from battlefronts to golf course bunkers. Over its history, Cushman vehicles have been used to keep industries running, deliver mail, keep streets safe, and support military troops. From the Cushman Mailster vehicle, custom-built for the US Postal Service in the 1950s, to the Cushman Airborne Scooter, dropped from aeroplanes to move troops during World Ware II, Cushman has stood ready to meet the needs of governments and industry.

Cushman produced golf carts during the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Cushman “Scotsman,” a three wheeled machine that could be outfitted to carry golf bags or equipped with a cargo bed to haul tools and equipment. During the 1970s, the company stopped producing golf carts to focus on designing and building heavy-duty, rugged utility and industrial vehicles.

In 1988, the Cushman brand and product lines were acquired by Textron Inc., a multi- industry company based in Providence, Rhode Island, USA and known around the world for its powerful brands of

aircraft, defence and industrial products. In addition to Cushman, other leading brands in the Textron portfolio include Cesna, Bell Helicopter, Greenlee, E-Z-GO and Jacobsen.

Now, Cushman’s broad product line ranges from the rugged 1600XD 4x4 utility vehicle, ideal for tough hauling and towing tasks in outdoor environments, to the imposing Titan, a fully electric material-handling vehicle with a load capacity of 1 350 kg to the Minute Miser, perfectly suited for transporting people and small loads across large facilities.

Wether it’s a Shuttle moving passengers and personnel through a crowded airport, or a Hauler helping to move equipment and materials around an African bush lodge, today’s Cushman vehicles work as tirelessly as those rugged Cushman machines of yesterday - to get the job done. It’s why Cushman remains an industry leader in providing the hospitality, commercial and industrial markets with powerful, reliable and efficient vehicles that work harder and last longer.

For more information visit: http://www.cushman.co.za

www.cushman.co.za

SHUTTLE 02

SHUTTLE 04

With room for two and an extra-long cargo deck, the Shuttle 2 is ideal for supporting housekeeping, food service and maintenance operations.

Get your people where they need to be in reliable comfort and style

The Shuttle 4 is the ideal choice for transporting staff as well as your guests and their luggage and golf bags.

Spacious seating for four and a cargo bed ensure a sophisticated look and keep guests comfortable while on the move.

CENTURION Telephone: +27 (12) 653 8945 Email: info@ezgo.co.za

CAPE TOWN Telephone: +27 (21) 905 0242 Email: infocape@ezgo.co.za

GEORGE Telephone: +27 (44) 874 5041 Email: infogeorge@ezgo.co.za

DURBAN Telephone: +27 (82) 781 6839 Email: infokzn@ezgo.co.za

SEPTEMBER 2012

SHUTTLE 06

When groups need to get to their rooms, the pool or just want a tour around the propert property, the Shuttle 6 is your go-to vehicle. It has the power and payload to cruise with a full load without hesitation.

The roomy Shuttle 6 is perfect for any environment where transporting people is a top priorit priority.

© 2012 E-Z-GO All rigts reserved.

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HOSPITALITY

Barter Exchange

A viable solution for unsold bed-nights Barter is defined as the action or system of exchanging goods or services without using traditional currency (money). With barter having developed into a sophisticated business tool, barter exchange can help Africa’s hospitality trade to increase business efficiency by facilitating barter trade exchanges to move excess inventory, writes Des Langkilde.

The advent of the Internet and sophisticated relational database software programmes has made it easier to conduct barter exchanges and has advanced the barter industry’s growth phenomenally.

Organised barter has grown globally to the point where virtually every country now has a formalised barter and trade network of some kind. Bartering benefits companies and countries that see a mutual benefit in exchanging goods and services rather than cash, and it also enables those who are lacking hard currency to obtain goods and services.

Reciprocal Trade Association (IRTA). Both offer training and promote high ethical standards among their members. Moreover, each has created its own currency through which its member barter companies can trade. NATE’s currency is the known as the BANC and IRTA’s currency is called Universal Currency.

Currency and Regulation

For hospitality and media barter trading opportunities in Southern Africa contact +27(0)87 272 4453, email des@transmediabarter. com or visit: http://www.transmediabarter.com/

Universal Currency (UC) was created in 1997 by the IRTA and is wholly owned by IRTA. UC is a “zero-based” trading system, meaning that UC maintains a bad debt reserve account to offset any unforeseen defaults that may arise in the system. UC’s bad debt reserve account According to the International Reciprocal Trade Association (IRTA) is well funded and therefore is positioned to assure the integrity of their member companies using the ‘Modern Trade and Barter’ the system in the future. UC is a model for sound financial principles process, made it possible for over 400,000 companies World Wide in the barter industry and is also the oldest and most successful interto utilize their ‘Excess Business Capacities’ and under performing exchange clearinghouse in the industry. UC set an all-time annual assets, to earn an estimated $12 Billion trading record of six million dollars in 2011. dollars in previously lost and wasted According to the IIRTA, over $12 billion in Barter transactions are revenues. barter trade was exchanged between some 400 000 companies worldwide last year. credited immediately so there While one-to-one bartering is practiced between individuals and businesses on an are no receivables, collection Bob Meyer, editor of BarterNews, stated in informal basis, organized barter exchanges an article published in the August edition of efforts or bad debts have developed to facilitate third party Tourism Tattler that “In a world of nations bartering. A barter exchange operates and consumers frothing in debt, USD 3.7 as a broker and bank in which each participating member has an trillion in annual economic activity facilitated by barter concepts account that is debited when purchases are made, and credited stands to grow. Counter-intuitive as it may seem, the growth of when sales are made. Compared to one-to-one bartering, concerns barter concepts and the economic activity they facilitate is not over unequal exchanges are reduced in a barter exchange. limited by money, but inspired and propelled by a lack of money.

With that said, bartering stands to grow a lot.”

The clients of a barter exchange network buy and sell products and services to each other using an internal currency known as barter or Corporate Barter trade dollars (one barter dollar is equal to one US Dollar).

Corporate barter exchanges typically use media and advertising as Businesses in a barter exchange earn trade credits (instead of cash) leverage for their larger transactions. It entails the use of a currency that are deposited into their account. They then have the ability unit called a “trade-credit”. The trade-credit must not only be to purchase goods and services from other members utilising their known and guaranteed, but also be valued in an amount the media trade credits – they are not obligated to purchase from who they and advertising could have been purchased for had the “client” sold to, and vice-versa. The exchange plays an important role bought it themselves. because they provide the record keeping, brokering expertise and monthly statements to each member. Commercial exchanges make Given that most hospitality service providers are running at around money by charging a commission on each transaction either all on 60% occupancy levels in the current economic recession, 40% of their inventory is going to waste. Why not offer this excess inventory the buy side, all on the sell side, or a combination of both. on corporate barter? The barter credits earned can then be used to While most barter exchange networks charge a joining fee to reduce cash flow by purchasing procurement needs on barter such become a member, not all do. All do however charge an admin or as media or accommodation when attending overseas travel trade transaction fee of between eight and fifteen per cent of the barter shows. value, which is usually payable in currency (cash) by debiting the clients credit card.

The barter exchange industry is self-regulated by two groups, the National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE) and the International 32

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LEGAL

The CPA and

Supplier Rights

CONSUMER COMPLAINT - POINT OF DEPARTURE & ISSUES TO BE CONSIDERED – PART 3 – The CPA provides clear guidelines for business practice by stating categorically which factors it will consider in adjudicating a dispute [Section 52]. If businesses were thus proactively to ensure that it acts accordingly, it will more than likely be given a favourable hearing – here are some of the more pertinent factors: • ‘PREVIOUS DEALING’/’CUSTOM OF TRADE’ - Thus if a business has terms and conditions (‘T&C’) and applies these consistently and regularly and the content is CPA compliant, the T&C will be upheld and enforced vis avis the consumer • ‘FAIR VALUE’ – ensure at all times that the consumer has received (objectively) a fair deal

• ‘BARGAINING POSITION’ & ‘EDUCATION’ – ensure that you and your sales staff don’t abuse a dominant supplier role and at all times consider each consumer’s level of education • ’CIRCUMSTANCES’, ‘CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE TRANSACTION’ & ‘CIRCUMSTANCES OF SUPPLY’ - this wording appears on a number of occasions (e.g. sections 52, 54, 55 (2) (c), 55 (4), 57 and 58): what are the implications for the supplier? It means that the entire sales process from ‘promotion’, branding, marketing, display, interaction with the consumer and delivery (the CTP) must be revisited and revised to ensure CPA compliance and thus enhance a favourable outcome to a hearing.

• ’CONDUCT, NEGOTIATION & EXTENT’ – sales should be conducted in accordance with requirements such as conscionable conduct, no unfair tactics or harassment. Sales should be negotiated and in such a manner that the consumer’s input is considered including the clarification of so-called ‘misapprehensions’. Ensure there is ‘genuine’ interaction with the consumer and don’t just listen to the consumer - make sure you hear what he/she is saying and that the negotiation is meaningful.

• ‘COMPETITOR’S PRICE’ – The CPA is not suggesting some kind of collusion but if the body adjudicating ‘compares apples with apples’ and in such a fair comparison your price is ‘way off the mark’, beware!

Disclaimer: This article is intended to provide a brief overview of legal matters pertaining to the travel and tourism industry and is not intended as legal advice. As every situation depends on its own facts and circumstances, professional advice should be sought in each instance. © Adv Louis Nel, BENCHMARK, JULY 2012.

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MARKETING

Market Intelligence Report The information below was extracted from available data as at 20 August 2012, writes Martin Jansen van Vuuren.

ARRIVALS The latest available data from Statistics South Africa is for January to April 2012:

Current period

Change over same period last year

169 876

4.6%

UK Germany

96 462

12.0%

USA

93 830

17.1%

India

30 644

25.8%

China

41 161

73.1%

839 217

16.8%

African Arrivals

Overseas Arrivals (excl same day visitors)

2 222 825

9.8%

Total Foreign Arrivals

3 070 641

11.7%

Note that African Arrivals plus Overseas Arrivals do not add to Total Foreign Arrivals due to the exclusion of unspecified arrivals, which could not be allocated to either African or Overseas.

HOTEL STATS The latest available data from STR Global is for January to June 2012: Current period

Average Room Occupancy (ARO)

Average Room Rate (ARR)

Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR)

All Hotels in SA

57.9%

R 890.21

R 515.03

All 5-star hotels in SA

57.1%

R 1 588.55

R 906.81

All 4-star hotels in SA

58.2%

R 858.57

R 499.35

All 3-star hotels in SA

57.3%

R 703.12

R 402.91

Change over same period last year All Hotels in SA

8.0%

3.5%

11.8%

All 5-star hotels in SA

12.1%

1.7%

13.9%

All 4-star hotels in SA

9.0%

3.6%

12.9%

All 3-star hotels in SA

6.0%

4.1%

10.4%

Passengers arriving on Regional Flights

Passengers arriving on Domestic Flights

ACSA DATA The latest available data from ACSA is for January to June 2012: Change of same period last year

OR Tambo

Passengers arriving on International Flights 2.1%

0.4%

-1.1%

Cape Town International

10.3%

18.7%

2.8%

King Shaka International

16.2%*

N/A

-3.1%

* Calculated off a low base

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR MY BUSINESS Growth in arrivals from India and China (even though off a low base) has been strong. The growth in all foreign tourism arrivals seems to be filtering through to the performance of the tourism industry. The increase in operating costs such as electricity has, however, limited the profits that could be realised by this growth. The depreciation of the Rand will be countered by the continued Euro Zone crisis and the slowing in the Asian economies leading to a tempered outlook on growth in foreign arrivals in the medium term. The decline in passengers arriving on domestic flights at OR Tambo and King Shaka International airports are concerning as domestic tourism is the backbone of the South African Tourism industry. It is hoped that the National Department of Tourism and SA Tourism’s focus on domestic tourism with a new domestic tourism strategy will bear fruit.

Domestic tourism should be stimulated by the 0.5% cut in interest rates in July as discretionary spend increase, but it is not expected that this will significantly stimulate domestic tourism growth.

For more information contact Martin at Grant Thornton on +27 (0)21 417 8838 or visit: http://www.gt.co.za SEPTEMBER 2012

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TOMSA project to boost UK tourist arrivals Tourism Marketing South Africa (TOMSA), the levy-collecting arm of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), has joined forces with SouthAfrican Tourism on a pilot project, aimed at boosting tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom, writes Kagiso Mosue of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa.

The project entails the appointment of a Project Manager, - Trade Sales, who will work side by side with SA Tourism’s UK office to strengthen the promotion and sale of South Africa as a tourist destination. Former Marketing and Sales Director at Mantis Collection, Sheree Simpson has been appointed to fulfil this important mandate. Simpson began her work from 6 August 2012.

Mmatšatši Ramawela, CEO of the TBCSA, says the project is as a result of constructive engagement with SA Tourism on the need to narrow the gap between raising awareness about South Africa as a destination and converting potential tourists into actual tourist arrivals. She explained that TOMSA and SA Tourism both agree on the importance of looking after the country’s traditional source markets, whilst pursuing new growth opportunities in the emerging markets. The UK is South Africa’s biggest overseas source market.

“The pilot project has two key objectives. One is to complement current marketing efforts from a brand awareness perspective. The other is to focus our attention on the tourism distribution channel, traditional and new, to ensure that we offer attractive South African packages for the UK market, considering the ongoing economic pressures affecting global travel”.

The announcement of the UK pilot project, follows the TOMSA Annual General Meeting held on 26 July, where new members of the Board were elected. They are: 1. Lance Smith, Executive Director of Sales at Avis Car Rental 2. Franco Jordaan, MD of Court Classique Hotels 3. Nic Griffin, CEO of The Thornybush Collection 4. Alistair Dooley, Divisional Director of Financials at City Lodge Hotels 5. Dale Pretorius, Marketing Manager for Value South Africa 6. Kobus Tait, CEO of Forever Resorts

7. Nils Heckscher, MD of the Winchester Mansions Hotel 8. Paddy Brearley, MD of Legacy Hotels and Resorts 9. Mavuso Msimang, TBCSA Board Chairman, and 10. Mmatšatši Ramawela, TBCSA CEO “This project is another way in which TOMSA is creating value in the travel and tourism industry”, Ramawela said. “TOMSA supporters and the broader membership of the TBCSA will see more collaboration with SA Tourism. Based on the success of this pilot project, there are plans to expand it to other key source markets for South Africa”.

In his presentation of SA Tourism’s five year strategic plan and 2013/14 annual performance plan during the TBCSA/TOMSA AGM, the CEO of SA Tourism Thulani Nzima thanked the TOMSA and broader industry for their continued support of SA Tourism’s work.

He committed to work with both TOMSA and the TBCSA to ensure that the UK pilot project succeeds.

Brief Profile Sheree Simpson is a forward thinker who enjoys using her creativity, networking, sales & marketing skills to find solutions and strategies that work. With more than 20 years of experience in the travel and tourism sector, she has succeeded in large, medium and small business environments giving her a unique depth of knowledge and experience in business.

The former Sales and Marketing Director at Mantis Collection has held various executive positions in organizations such as Europcar and Protea Hospitality Group. She has also been actively involved in the industry, serving in various capacities in industry associations such as SATSA and the Tourism Enterprise Programme.

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How PR raises your Triple Bottom Line The most outstanding public relations (PR) campaigns have a positive effect on people, profit and planet. The three P’s are fundamentally and synergistically linked.

Profit leads to happy people; happy individuals lead to solidarity regarding our environment, which in turn leads to positive change on our planet, writes Craig Dummett.

This, in essence, is the triple bottom line, introduced by John Elkington in his 1997 book, “Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business”. It’s a bottom line that continues to measure profits, while simultaneously tallying both the organisation’s impact on people plus its environmental footprint – with sustainability an important part of the equation. It’s a perspective whose initial micro focus is then rolled out to take in global and planetary consequences and implications.

PR is an industry which is perfectly positioned to positively influence all three P’s. Let’s check the human context. There are many business models and tricks employed that will increase your company’s profit, but only PR can positively sway people. It’s one thing to put money in the bank, but it’s another to put ideas into people’s heads along with that.

Influence of PR Many projects start out as a simple Corporate Social Investment (CSI) “stunt” or as an accessory to a PR campaign. Yet these types of campaigns intrinsically deal with people and their lives, and, for the most part, consist of projects that improve some aspect of people’s lives. Whether it is provision of medicines, primary healthcare, social or enterprise development, environmental or educational programme sponsorship, it’s excellent PR – but equally good for people, planet and profit.

Take for instance the case of Tata Tea in India. They ran a campaign for a new range of Tea called Jaago Re! (Wake Up), in which they would allow people to voice their community issues (working conditions, transport, corrupt politicians, etc.) when purchasing the tea. The company then used its financial and political backing to support this lobby, resulting not only in positive strides in social upliftment, but also a giant spike in sales.

The same techniques and methods used to leverage an ordinary PR campaign – raising awareness, educating the public and gaining publicity – are used to great effect for these types of projects. The very nature of such a campaign makes it more attractive to the public rather than just another product being sold.

Oil company Saudi Aramco enlisted a female representative to spearhead a new collaboration with an American company that would see them double their production as well as expanding into new territories. This had an unexpected effect as female consumers’ support grew in consequence of them supporting women’s rights in a country infamous for restriction and suppression.

Going Green The last decade has seen a giant trend in companies “going green”, combatting global warming or environmental ruin. PR as a means of damage control in the face of environmental disasters has been 38

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crucial to many companies’ survival, but sometimes even the most sincere soothsaying cannot reverse the damage.

BP’s recent Gulf oil spill springs to mind. If there was one good thing to come from this horrible disaster it is that BP immediately revised its public image and involvement in environmental affairs. Many companies’ sole existence is for the sake of the environment, but logistics require that these companies do make a profit as well and this is where PR bridges the gap.

Another example of practical PR and building greater responsible corporate brand equity, from the target market’s perspective, is Vital Health Foods and their “Going Green” initiative. Plant electricity usage was reduced by an average 12 per cent per month, and 15 per cent during peak demand alone.

Vital saved more than R20,000.00 over an eight-month period, simply by coating the roof of its manufacturing facility with a special paint called Thermoshield and by replacing old-fashioned incandescent bulbs with LED lights. Not only was this a financial saving for the company, it also unlocked a positive shift in public perception towards the brand.

Putting out the facts Correcting misconceptions and ironing out facts is an important PR exercise which impacts upon consumer awareness and perceptions.

Effective PR aims to arm customers with information to strengthen their purchasing power. Free market choice empowers consumers to make informed decisions which impacts upon brand allegiance.

PR is not always used to influence company profit directly. It can be a cohesive force affecting both people and the planet positively.

Vital Health Foods provided consumers with nutritional information about which vitamin supplements to buy, not merely as a proactive business tactic, but to positively enrich the lives of their consumers.

By being socially and environmentally responsible, a company elevates its public image. PR is the face that your company presents to the world. You can choose to present a trusting one or paint a faceless corporate mask. The bottom line is that it’s important to all – people, profit and the planet. Best of all, it’s your choice… and how you go about it can really put you on the map.

For more information visit: http://dummettandcompany.co.za/ Craig Dummett is the Managing Director of Dummett & Co, a results-driven PR agency specialising in FMCG, tourism, health and fitness and marketing. The agency is based in Cape Town but operates on a national scale.

Craig can be reached at: craig@dummettandcompany.co.za

MARKETING

Carving Your China Consumer Niche African destinations and tourism products need to proactively focus on marketing themselves in the emerging markets of Asia, especially India and China. After living in Beijing for the past 11 years, and having personally witnessed its unparalleled economic transformation, I am confident that China will become South Africa’s fourth largest source of overseas arrivals within the next two years currently has annual arrivals of 84,000 at average yearly growth of more than 20%. I have little doubt that China has the potential to become South Africa’s largest source of overseas travelers by 2020, writes Michael Jones.

Don’t get me wrong, I love pap and vleis as much as the next South African, it’s nutritious, delicious and yes, I even consider it a bit of a luxury. But can you imagine a world so bland that all we ate everyday, every meal, was pap and vleis?

In the nine years that Chinese consumers have been travelling to South Africa they have figuratively been eating pap and vleis nonstop. If only they had literally been eating pap and vleis I would have personally been far more excited as that would indicate that Chinese package tours to South Africa had actually developed beyond the cookie cutter eight day itineraries including the Cape of Good Hope, Sun City and Kruger National Park at an average all inclusive price of R10,000 with no shortage of second rate Chinese food. Again, don’t get me wrong, as a Capetonian I regularly travel to Cape Point on homebound trips. I had an incredible stay at Sun City, which after many years of aggressive marketing has become a Chinese “mustsee” institution, so persuasive that even the most economical of packages include day-trips there. And lastly, my trip to Kruger a few months ago was the greatest game watching experience since I was eight years old, but I take it for granted that we all agree that South Africa has a delicious variety of other destinations and products on offer.

If South Africa was the only travel destination on earth perhaps we could afford to be complacent with what is served to Chinese consumers, but sadly the majority of the world’s countries are now allowed to accept Chinese tourists and the brewing competition between them is increasingly fierce. We are not the only destination to burn its fingers by over reliance on the traditional Europe and America markets. Then there is the reality of the 15-hour long haul odyssey separating us, not to mention persistent concerns around safety. While South African Tourism is working hard to change the stubborn behaviour of Chinese tour operators regurgitating the same menu over and over again, currently by pushing the Garden Route, it is encouraging to see that some improvement is being made.

A smidgen of tour operators has started to adopt new itineraries while some have even audaciously created luxury packages at the full price of R35,000 upwards (the market dominant R10,000 packages are subsidized by regular dodgy diamond sales). How it has taken so long to make the connection between the country with the most US Dollar millionaires on earth and our half empty luxury hotels and resorts beggars belief nonetheless.

Thankfully South African Tourism is not spicing things up alone.

Fearful of becoming a tourist fossil, Gauteng recently leveraged its Cradle of Humankind and city lifestyle assets in Shanghai to raise its awareness as a historical, cultural and lifestyle centre as opposed to a time-consuming transfer hub for other South African destinations.

With a 70 million outbound market and growing, its stands to reason that a sustained effort will eventually result in increased night stays in the province of gold as they do have a generous portion of offerings.

An increasing number of South African hotels are also starting to carve out their niche by promoting themselves directly to China’s leading tour operators, travel clubs and even consumers by differentiating their flavours, no longer petrified that the discerning Chinese traveller only has an appetite for city centre locations (read “next to a mall”) and cut throat pricing. Make no mistake, unlike their borsch eating neighbours, even the wealthiest Chinese entrepreneur wants to feel like he/she is getting a better than average deal, so in order to become more competitive, some hotels could consider adopting special lower “Asian rates”. But lower rates is not the only successful ingredient at their disposal. Catering to Chinese cultural preferences from something as mundane as a hoisted Chinese flag to investment heavy Mandarin speaking front of house staff is essential. Of late it has been refreshing to see both South African large and boutique hotels promote themselves in China as they would do in other markets, by focusing their particular strengths whether it be a truly unique location, mouth watering cuisine, unparalleled services standards or heritage status. The market’s response has been encouraging with a growing number of tour operators showing a greater interest in such niche products, not to mention the genuine gratitude of being educated about such opportunities.

At the end of the day, it is not in the nature of price-war mindset Chinese tour operators to invest in their tour planners to embark on a journey of discovery covering the length and breadth of our country seeking the best possible destinations and products for their clientele, hence the perpetually bland set course tourism meal.

Peddlers in niche products have little choice but to go and meet with relevant travel officials directly in China, or they must bring them to South Africa to experience the products for themselves.

If they do neither, they will not be seeing congee connoisseurs anytime soon, unless of course they literally got lost and fell off the pap and vleis trail.

Michael Jones is co-founder of AfricaCreate, a marketing company that promotes African travel and tourism brands in the Chinese outbound market.

He can be reached at: michael@africacreate.com SEPTEMBER 2012

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How to automatically deliver qualified sales leads from the internet directly to the sales desk Information is power - power to inform, power to motivate and power to convert. Clearly customers make choices, and it’s up to us in the travel and tourism industry to motivate, inform and provide information online that is inspiring, relevant and to the point. Just as important is that communications are channelled in such a way that at the business-receiving-end, extended personal information can be collected. Information that is readily and directly available for selling with. The internet is about making use of opportunities, and the sooner the right strategies and solutions are implemented the sooner we benefit from them, writes Pieter Philipse.

The main data gathering (information requests) and delivery / response platform to process web forms is the “E-mail Marketing Application”.

This application processes form information gathered from websites, blogs and facebook pages.

It is able to respond back and perform actions according to the type of information and content it has received from the submitter of the form.

Process Automation = Sales Maximisation In this day and age we don’t need to busy ourselves by manually communicating with sales prospects up to a point of sale. Instead we can automate most steps leading up to that point. This frees us from many hours of contacting and communicating with prospective clients prior to making a sale. At the end of the day what we really want to do is concentrate on sales and effectively maximise our return on investment (ROI).

Collecting Information Any prospect information in a web environment at some stage is collected by a method of people sending e-mails or filling in forms.

The conditions for insuring that people fill-in forms is to offer them something of VALUE in return. This can be the value of website content you provide, the interface that effortlessly takes people to the information they are looking for, or a free service or item you offer in return for the information they provide. Most importantly it is all about appreciation through communication, even the way a form itself is displayed and communicated decides whether people will fill that form in or not. There are many methods and many opportunities for collecting data through forms. They are a sure way of providing people with the information they want whilst implicitly providing you with the sales information you need.

The E-mail Marketing Application can: • Reply with e-mail messages containing requested information with or without attachments and links pointing to further information on web pages.

• Click-track: observe what web page-links people click on in delivered e-mails (including newsletters) to see what they are interested in. Respond to those clicks with further offers, proposals, attachments, etc.

• Merge data between mailing lists or create custom mailing lists for specific customer types.

• (When integrated with Google Analytics) determine what specific information prospects end up viewing (or specific action they take) on a website.

• Act as a personal contact using the regular e-mail address of company staff to communicate with prospects.

• At the end of the communication cycle alert the sales desk that a particular person qualifies as a sales lead and needs to be contacted.

• Integrate with a booking calender or CRM application.

INFORMATION PROCESSING

The example illustration above shows the link statistics for a message sent out as part of an e-mail marketing campaign. It shows 40

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for example the most popular link clicked in the e-mail pointing to specific subject information on a web page, plus what links to web pages in the e-mail people (receivers of the e-mail) individually clicked (table at the bottom of the illustration).

PRACTICAL REAL WORLD SCENARIOS

mailing list. Having recognised the field value “Cape Town” triggers the application to automatically send out an e-mail to Joe containing information, options, and offers about Cape Town.

3. When Joe opens the informative e-mail he receives from the e-mail marketing application, he clicks a link from one of the options to view information about the Robben Island Guided Tour in a web page of our website.

4. The e-mail marketing application is notified of the click Joe made and sends out a second e-mail using the e-mail sender address of our Cape Town specialist. This time the message contains more detailed information about travel to Cape Town including the Robben Island Guided Tour in combination with an exclusive offer. As a bonus it announces a free “Travel to Cape Town Tips & Advice Brochure” available for download to registered users of the website. The e-mail further offers Joe the opportunity to book a telephone appointment for personal advice with our Cape Town specialist at a date and time convenient to him.

Traveller Visit To Travel & Hospitality Website Wouldn’t it be nice if Joe Jones (our fictional sales-prospect) would receive specific information about his destination “Cape Town” when he has indicated his preference for this destination on our website?

When Joe has viewed the information we have sent him as a response to his preferences we can see that he also is interested in the Robben Island Guided Tour. We send Joe specific details to support his itinerary together with our offer. We finalise with booking his holiday.

At the same time as the message is being delivered a sales-alert is sent to the sales desk to inform our Cape Town specialist about the information sent to Joe. 5. Joe reads the information in the second message. Clicking the registration link brings Joe to the website registration page. Joe is keen to obtain the free “Travel to Cape Town Tips & Advice Brochure”, so he fills in his registration details plus more personal information about himself. He is also able to access areas of the website he previously had no access to, including our download section and travel-forum.

The Informative Stage (Fully Automated)

6. The full contact, address, travel and itinerary details for Joe’s entry in our mailing list has now been received and completed. A confirmation (request to call) including a list of Joe’s details is sent by the e-mail marketing application to our Cape Town specialist “Helen” at the sales desk.

1. First of all we have no prior knowledge of Joe’s existence. He is merely an unidentified user on the internet arriving at our website through the Google search engine using the search term “Holiday South Africa.”

7. Joe has read the information he received from us. He is now ready to discuss booking, and requests a telephone appointment with Helen during the coming week. His preferred time for Helen to call him is: Thursday afternoon at 13h00.

The first reason why Joe starts to browse from the home page of our website is the up-to-date style and simple to use interface that he is confronted with. He sees that he can access the information he needs directly from the home page without having to become a qualified navigator. Many points on the website convince him with information that is easily accessible and appropriate to solving his needs. The environment quickly occupies him. When he gets a popup asking him what his favourite destination this year is he supplies his e-mail address and enters “Cape Town”.

PERSONAL ASSISTANCE STAGE. Helen Starts To Spend Time On Her Sales Prospect

Let’s take a close look at how we achieved this for him....

8. Helen prepares her proposal to Joe, she contacts him at the time he requested, discusses his requirements in every detail, and BOOKS HIS HOLIDAY! IMPORTANT! A combination of simultaneously using three or more different paths, collection methods and communication techniques using forms on a website maximises the data collection yield.

2. This information is posted to the e-mail marketing application which enters Joe’s e-mail address and data into the “Travel Inbound”

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Scenario 2

(Requesting information from people this way often requires you to give away a little gift or attention).

TRAVEL AGENCY SALES DESK SURVEYS Whether people book with you straight away while on your premises or not, asking for extra information is always relevant and necessary. Using a survey form on your website connected to your e-mail marketing application that you can fill in during or after your consult can make a big difference in increasing your everyday sales.

A first class example of how this is accomplished using a survey form is as follows: After you’ve given your face to face advice to a prospect, “ASK” if he or she would like to be included on your mailing list. Then “ASK” if you may ask a few personal questions (do you mind if I ask you just a few questions? This is to help us improve our services and for me to organise the right package for you). “Be sure to have your survey form displayed on your PC ready in front of you”.

Questions you may want to ask are: • Have you travelled with us before?

• What type of travel / holidays do you enjoy?

• What are your three most favourite destinations?

• Your favourite holiday accommodation? (camping, B&Bs, hotel, lodge, family entertainment centre, spa, wellness etc).

• What are your three most favourite holiday activities? (summer/ winter); importantly If activities are club-related ask about membership of any club(s) or organisation(s).

• When is your birthday?

• What is your marital status?

• During what time(s) of the year do you normally go on holiday?

• What are your three most favourite websites?

• Your three most favourite magazines, (travel) publications?

• Your favourite radio station?

• Extended information to ask about is: What are your favourite interests? Music, Sports, Theatre, Art, Leisure etc. (if club related: name of club or organisation). Other questions you may want to ask are: about retirement, job description etc.

Be sure also to fill in what age group a person belongs to (no need to directly ask for their age).

The information collected this way offers many communication advantages. You can directly communicate with prospects via informative e-mails and electronic newsletters, including the ability to automate the process for client conversion. Importantly vital information is collected to fuel advertising and PR campaigns.

Remember, whatever personal information you decide to collect: Always state that the information your prospect or client provides will be kept confidentially and will not be shared with any third parties at any time.

One way to obtain important client information is to create two web-forms on your website to present on local displays at your locations. One is for visitors to fill in during check-in, and one for visitors checking out.

The type of information you may want to collect during check-in is: • How did they find your offer.

• What is the choice of holiday associated with?

• What publications, media, literature did they consult prior to travel?

• Why THIS location was chosen?

• Shared information with? / how?

• Three most favourite websites?

The type of information you may want to collect during check-out is: • Approval of your product scale 1 to 10 .

• Did experience match expectations? describe?

• Likes?

• Favourite?

• Dislikes?

• Staff ratings.

• What was missing?

• Recommendations to future travellers?

Reasons for collecting this information are: to resell and up-sell to existing clients - sell to new clients; to re-evaluate and provide data for marketing - advertising campaigns; to rate the quality of your establishment and services; to indicate the necessary steps for product-improvement.

Conclusion Maximising profits by automating communications using webforms and e-mail marketing techniques should be one of the first to include as part of any online campaign strategy. Every forwardlooking business needs the power and flexibility of readily available information it can sell to and inform with. Forms in any configuration can be placed and used on any platform and supply information from the word go.

E-mail marketing applications processing the information using forms and newsletters are there to help support you to make the perfect solution for your “communication with sales-leads” needs. With SEO internet marketing and social media marketing, e-mail marketing provides the most effective way of extracting and communicating information from the traffic that these other two methods provide. Finally e-mail marketing constitutes the information pipeline through which sales reach your business.

Scenario 3 RECEPTION DESK SURVEYS

Text & Illustrations by: Pieter Philipse.

For more information visit: http://www.kondwana.com/ 42

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TRENDS in tourism

Tourists have, in recent years, become far more than backpack-wielding happy snappers. The new tourist is increasingly discerning, and is looking to invest in an experience. In order for South Africa to compete as one of the world’s top travel destinations, tourism operators must adapt to the changing needs of their market, writes Terri Adendorff of Get Smarter.

As tourists change, so does the tourism industry. New trends are emerging, and those involved in the industry must be ready to stay ahead of the curve by tailoring their services to the new landscape of tourism.

South Africa’s tourism projections look more promising than ever.

In 2015, it is estimated that South Africa will receive over 13.5 million tourists – an increase of 4.8% in total tourism demand.

The steady rise in South Africa’s popularity as a tourist destination means that R318.2 billion will be brought in by the tourism industry alone in 2015. In order to gain a part of this lucrative pie, those in the industry (or those looking to enter it) should make note of the following trends, and explore the opportunities they represent: Adventure tourism South Africa provides the perfect setting for the more adventurous tourist. Tourists are looking for a visceral and unforgettable experience, whether it comes from jumping off of a gorge or standing close to a fierce predator. The shrewd tour operator will take advantage of such adrenaline-seeking predispositions, by incorporating activities to get the heart racing. The plethora of wildlife, stunning hiking trails, majestic mountains and surfing opportunities are just a few of the characteristics that make South Africa the perfect destination for the risk-taking tourist. Determine what adventures lie in wait by analysing your location. If you operate in a coastal region, why not add boating adventures or shark cage diving experiences to your repertoire of services?

Cultural tourism Tourists want to experience new cultures and observe different ways of life. This immersion is easy to attain in South Africa, where cultures are varied and remain authentic. South Africa is ranked highly among international tourists because of its richness in cultural diversity.

Recently, the “township tour” has become popular, as tourists feel immersed in the unique experience of visiting townships and interacting with people. Most tourists want to experience cultural extremes and see things they have never seen before. Incorporate

traditional food, music or performances to your basket of services – allowing your client insight into the customs of a different culture.

South Africa is full of unique cultural experiences, and these are for the tour operator to exploit.

Geo-local tourism The new trend in tourism is to explore one’s own back yard, so to speak. Tourism within South Africa is increasing, and locals are discovering that a vacation in a different region of their home country can be a unique and exotic experience. South Africa has so many variant landscapes, cultures and experiences to offer. For instance, someone from the Free State could feel like a tourist in Cape Town, as the landscape, culture and climate are very different.

Tour operators should take advantage of the increased travel within South Africa, and tailor their programmes to suit locals, as well as foreign tourists. This trend is especially promising, as inter-country travel can occur at any point in the year. Most foreign visitors arrive “in season”, and the “out of season” period can be extremely quiet.

Offering specials to visitors arriving in the out of season period will attract more local visitors and cushion the financial blow of a postseason lull.

Environmentally friendly tourism These days, an eco-conscious operating model is non-negotiable.

Tourists, and society as a whole, are increasingly conscious of the effects of their actions on the environment. A great deal of consumers are likely to support operators who are committed to incorporating green initiatives to reduce their ecological footprint.

Enterprises failing to consider their impact are less likely to appeal to the increasingly green consumer-base. Operators should be vocal about the steps they take to reduce their environmental impact, as this is likely to attract clients.

Even though the tourism industry does not deal with concrete outcomes or tangible evidence of the work that goes into a successful tour, it is important to remember that the service offered is one that creates lasting memories and moments of sheer wonder.

If you are willing to expand and adapt to changing trends, your operation will be relevant to the ever evolving tourist, and garner the rewards of South Africa’s expanding potential as a covetable destination.

To learn more about the current trends in tourism, consider the part-time University of Cape Town Tourism Management short course, presented online throughout South Africa. Contact Nikki on 021 447 7565 or nicole@getsmarter.co.za for more information.

Alternatively, visit www.GetSmarter.co.za.

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PHOTO GALLERY Two exceptional photos by South African photographers have been awarded commended in this year’s Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Co-owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Worldwide, the competition is fiercely contested and this year attracted more than 48,000 entries from across 98 countries.

The commended photos will sit among 100 awe-inspiring images to form the acclaimed exhibition debuting at the Natural History Museum in October before embarking on a UK and international tour. The exhibition, which also features the eagerly anticipated winning and runner-up images, reveals the astonishing richness and diversity of life on our planet while highlighting the fragility of nature.

South African photographers praised for their astonishing images in prestigious wildlife photography competition.

Now in its 48th year, the competition attracts entries from professionals and amateur photographers alike. Judged by a panel of industry-recognised professionals, the images are selected for their creativity, artistry and technical complexity.

Exhibition information for the Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the Natural History Museum, London: Dates and times: 19 October 2012 until 3 March 2013, 10.00–17.50 Visitor enquiries: +44 (0) 207 942 5000 Website: www.nhm.ac.uk/wildphoto Note: Veolia Environnement is a French spelling and not a typo - Ed.

Frits Hoogendijk (South Africa), In the light of dawn. © Frits Hoogendijk / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012.

The pride hadn’t eaten for several days. They were hungry, and a hunt was very likely. A blanket of fog lay thickly over the Okavango Delta’s Duba Plains, Botswana, and the dawn light was very low. It was hard to make out anything, but fortunately the lions were still lying where Frits had left them the evening before. A short while later, the females set off to hunt. ‘I wanted to photograph one out in the open, in the wet and misty weather. So we positioned the vehicle where they might walk towards us.When this lioness stopped by a tuft of grass and peered into the distance, it was perfect. I love the intense green, the drops of dew on the grass and the soft light and detail on her body. Her focused gaze captures the energy and intensity of a hunt that hasn’t yet happened.’

Nikon D3S + 200-400mm f4 lens at 200mm; 1/400 sec at f4; ISO 1000.

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PHOTO GALLERY

Thomas P Peschak (Germany / South Africa), Midnight feast. © Thomas P Peschak / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012.

In the dead of night, the young whale shark was feeding close to the surface. The challenge for Tom was to capture an image of it. The whale sharks of this area in the Gulf of Tadjoura, Djibouti, eastern Africa, feed at night on zooplankton attracted to the lights of small fishing boats. These lights were too dim to allow Tom to photograph without a flash, but a flash would have disturbed the shark. So from his boat, he hung an additional light just above the water.

‘The cone of light was just large enough to illuminate the small whale shark emerging from the gloom,’ he says. ‘The shark was about two and a half metres long, but if it had been an adult, it would have been at least four times longer, and I would have only been able to get part of the animal illuminated in the frame.’ This location is the only known one where juveniles gather and the only one where whale sharks are regularly documented feeding at night.

Nikon D3 + 16mm lens; 1/50 sec at f5; ISO 800; Subal housing; movie light above water.

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PHOTO GALLERY

2012 VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR - COMMENDED

Joe Sulik (USA) - Crouch, pause, action. © Joe Sulik / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012.

Joe arrived in the bobcat’s territory before sunrise to start looking for her. Finally he spotted her outline.

‘She was crouched in the long grass, all hunched up, watching for prey,’ says Joe. But she had no intention of rushing. The sun peeked above the horizon, then rose steadily up above Badlands National Park in South Dakota, USA. The bobcat continued to scan. Joe continued to watch, hidden in the long grass. A full hour later, the action began. ‘I saw her shift her weight to her hind legs,’ Joe remembers. ‘I knew I had just a fraction of a second to get ready for the shot.’ Sure enough, the bobcat suddenly pounced.

Unlike the build-up, breakfast itself took just a few moments. After devouring the vole, she disappeared into the long grass, her patience – and Joe’s – rewarded.

Nikon D3 + 600mm f4 lens + 1.4x teleconverter; 1/400 sec at f5.6; ISO 800.

Charlie Hamilton James (UK), Treading water © Charlie Hamilton James / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012.

While making a film about giant otters in Cocha Salvador, Manu National Park, Peru, Charlie got to know this youngster well. ‘He was full of personality,’ says Charlie.

‘These animals have a lot of attitude.’ The portrait of the four-month-old cub was taken lying down in his boat, and the cub was as curious about Charlie as Charlie was about him, craning up its neck while treading water.

Giant otters are very social and live in extended family groups, with up to eight or so members, giving safety in numbers where local predators, such as caiman, are concerned. They are officially listed as endangered. In the past the main threat was hunting, but now their habitat is being destroyed and degraded by logging, mining, pollution, overfishing and even dams, and their numbers are rapidly dropping.

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV + 800mm lens; 1/1600 sec at f5.6; ISO 1000.

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▲ Facing page - top image

▼ Facing page - bottom image

Jabruson (UK), Primal fear.

Paul Hilton (UK/Australia), The end of sharks.

© Jabruson / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012.

© Paul Hilton / Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012.

Jabruson was on his way to northern Mozambique to cover the poaching of elephants when, passing through a village, he saw a group of children with a tethered yellow baboon. It had been caught when its troop raided local crops, probably forced to by loss of habitat.

‘Few animals show such human expressions,’ says Jabruson, ‘and this youngster’s face spoke volumes.’ Then things got tricky when men appeared demanding that he bought it. The best he could do was take a picture ‘to highlight yet another human-wildlife conflict issue so common in Central Africa.’ He never knew the youngster’s fate. Without access to the appropriate wildlife authorities, he had no alternative but to leave it – another sad example of humans and wild animals clashing over dwindling resources.

Workers at Dong Gang Fish Market in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, routinely process thousands of frozen shark fins a day to service the growing international demand for shark-fin soup. The statistics are grim: up to 100 million sharks are killed each year, 73 million for their fins to service this demand, taking one in three shark species to the brink of extinction. Many millions of sharks are taken solely for their fins and get thrown back into the ocean, where it takes hours for them to die. Says Paul, ‘It was sobering to think how many sharks had been killed to produce this pile of fins for a soup that isn’t even healthy’ (the fins contain high levels of methylmercury). Another sombre thought: in the time that it has taken to read this caption, around 50 sharks will have been slaughtered worldwide.

Sony DSLR-A900 + 24mm f2 lens; 1/200 sec at f11; ISO 200.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II + 16-35mm f2.8 lens; 125 sec at f4.5; ISO 1600.

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PHOTO GALLERY

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The CPA and Insurance

RISK

There’s been huge reaction to the introduction of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) in the tourism industry and we have seen this particularly in the B&B and guesthouse sector.

Is the news as bad as we’ve been led to believe? asks Dave Jack.

Certainly many experts on the CPA have been giving lectures and going into individual clauses which have terrified their listeners.

Perhaps I’m guilty of over-simplifying the Act, but I think there are a couple of basic things we need to remember.

tested in court – but we do know that it can be costly to defend such an action.

Even if you win.

Firstly, the act was introduced to protect the consumer from unethical practice. Secondly every one of us almost every day is a consumer and thirdly – and probably most central to the entire Act – is to ask oneself ‘How would I want to be treated?’ Taking this simple question into all aspects of the running of one’s business should give the B&B or guesthouse owner a fair degree of comfort. The question needs to be looked at from every angle though: reservations, brochures – and especially websites: ‘How would I want to be treated?’

So: does insurance help?

For instance – how would you feel if you’d been told that an establishment had wonderful sea views, when in fact all you can see is a tiny bit of the ocean when you walk to the bottom of the garden? How would you feel if you were told that the establishment had ‘secure’ off street parking? As an example: the use of the word ‘secure’ could be extremely dangerous. If a guest drives through your gate and somebody either slips in on foot or ‘tailgates’ and holds him or her up – is the property secure? If the guest felt that by saying your parking was ‘secure,’ you’d engaged in false advertising - and if he or she had been severely traumatised in view of this false advertising, he or she would want compensation.

Would he or she succeed in a case against the establishment?

We don’t know at this stage as this kind of event has not been

It is seldom, if ever, that one will get insurance to protect against false advertising.

But what is available to BnB SURE policy holders is an optional section to cover Tax and Legal Costs arising from the enforcement of the CPA should this sort of thing arise or should one get a visit from SARS. It’s crucial that establishment owners check all their advertising and look for – and take steps to mitigate – dangers in the operating of their establishments (particularly, where establishments are multilisted on several tourism websites you need to ensure that all are correct).

Just remember the golden question: ‘How would I want to be treated?’

You can download BnB SURE’s A Guide to the Consumer Protection Act and Consumer Rights from their website at: www.bnbsure.co.za

Looking for additional income that could be as high as 100% or more of your monthly insurance premium?

Speak to your broker or visit www.bnbsure.co.za Authorised FSP No: 9854 Underwritten by insurers as stated on our website at www.bnbsure.co.za SEPTEMBER 2012

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SAFETY & SECURITY

tsi Plans the Way Forward The Tourism Safety Initiative (tsi) has now completed a three-phase strategy for future development.

A primary objective has been the resourcing of the project especially in terms of information and intelligence management. This has been achieved by the appointment of the company Online Intelligence as Service supplier, writes Annelie Barkema, Project Leader of tsi.

Online Intelligence has been established for 11 years and they have developed software specifically in the field of integrated security, investigative analysis and risk management software solutions. The industries they serve include security, mining, facility management, government, petroleum, banking and other tourism businesses and municipalities. The emphasis is on building sound intelligence to fight crime effectively through information technology.

One of the main objectives of Phase One is the rollout of the dedicated tsi website, and that is expected to happen before the end of September. Through the website tsi will also be able to disseminate information and alerts on the website, hosted by Online Intelligence on a secured and confidential channel to tourism industry stakeholders. tsi will also be able to generate extra funding by selling advertising space on the site. tsi will also create a forum of risk managers within the tourism industry, and by collaborating closely together increase the chances of both catching the criminals and securing a successful prosecution.

This is under way, and will be established before the end of 2012.

Phase Two will see the appointment of a criminologist as a dedicated analyst to tsi, to interpret the available data and information.

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Following the establishment of the Forum, industry specific projects will be set up according to need, and also following what is revealed by analysis of the data. Government stakeholders will be included in these projects, which will be continuously marketed to the tourism industry. Information sessions will be launched within the ambit of the Tourism Business Council Roadshow, distributing detailed information back through to the TOMSA levy collectors, who will also be able to access the latest information on the tsi website.

As Phase Two evolves, Phase Three will develop these goals further, involving law enforcement agencies more closely with the work, in accordance with perceived threats as indicated by data analysis and reports received from tourism stakeholders. Stakeholders will also be encouraged to join and support their local Community Policing Forums.

The ultimate goal is to offer effective and timely interventions in tourism crime and potential crime situations, so that in the promotion of tourism to South Africa we can honestly say that we can claim to be seriously tackling the undoubted problems we have faced and are still facing.

Perception of personal safety is a very important part of the process of decision to visit any country as a tourist. The fact that tsi exists, is working and is effective will assist in promoting the perception of South Africa as a safer destination.

To report any incident call tsi’s 24/7 support centre on: +27 (0)861 874 911 or e-mail: Tourism.Safety@satsa.co.za

TECHNOLOGY

gadgets

&gifts

gizmo’s

This edition’s selection has been sourced with acknowledgement to Livingstones Supply Co. Suppliers of the Finest Products to the Hospitality Industry. http://www.livingstonessupplyco.co.za

ICOM PORTABLE HANDLED VHF RADIO WITH NO KEYPAD 136-174MHz 128 channels.

Compact lightweight body.

IP54 dust protection & splash resistance.

Most popular signalings built-in.

Multiple 2-tone, Multiple 5-tone.

Lithium-Ion battery standard.

18 programmable buttons.

ELSAFE XTRA 43 HOSPITALITY SAFE

Alphanumeric display.

Available with a full keypad or a four-digit keypad.

Includes 220V Charger and Battery.

Xtra Safe Features: 4 Digit Guest code and digit display ADA compliant telephone-style keypad Industry leading Audit Trail

Over 50 years of engineering and production excellence is a part of every Icom product. Using the latest equipment, Icom radios are tested to pass rigorous in-house tests as well as environmental tests to the US Military standard 810 specifications. Made in Osaka, Japan.

Easy outside battery change Spring Loaded Door Price: R1,813.00 ($217.88).

Price: R2,467.00 ($296.47).

ULTRAOPTEC 10X42 GAME PRO BINOCULARS Features: BAK4 Roof Prisms, Fully multi coated lenses, Rubber Armoured, Nitrogen Filled, Fog Proof, Waterproof, Tripod mountable, Ultra Green Coated Objective lenses, 2.5m Close Focus, Long Eye Relief, Ergonomic European Design, Fold up & down eye cups for use with glasses, Includes pouch & neck strap.

Specifications: Magnification – 10x, Objective lens diameter – 42mm, Optical Coatings – Fully Multi Coated, Field of view @ 1000M – 114m, Exit Pupil diameter – 4.2mm, Prism type - Roof, Prism – BAK4, Close Focus Distance – 2.5m.

Price: R1,972.50 ($237.04)

STAINLESS STEEL SPORTS BOTTLE & CARABINER 450ML All prices indicated exclude VAT and are per the currency exchange rate as at 17 August 2012 (1 ZAR = 0.120173 USD).

This particular Bottle is ideal for all hiking and out door activities.

The carabiner is included for clipping the bottle to your back pack or belt. Made of Stainless Steel. Holds 450ml.

SEPTEMBER 2012

Price: R30.00 ($3.60).

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TRADE NEWS

KENYA Underwater museum proposed for Kenya Africa’s first underwater museum could open in Kenya by 2014. The museum, one of the few of its kind in the world, will be located on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast, and will form part of the Malindi Marine National Park. It will focus on marine life, such as sea turtles, manta rays, whale sharks and dolphins, and shipwrecks, of which there are around 35 in the area around Lamu, Mombasa, Malindi, Watamu and the south coast.

The shipwrecks will be fitted with underwater cameras that will transmit images to visitors above sea level. The museum will also study the relationship between the marine life and the shipwrecks, which attract fish feeding on microorganisms on the wood of the ships.

The project’s current goal is to assess how many wrecks there are in the area, their current condition and stability.

For more information visit: http://www.kws.org/parks/parks_reserves/ MAMR.html

LESOTHO Successful Snowboard Championships The Quiksnow SA Snowboard Championships concluded in nearperfect conditions at the Afriski Resort in the heart of Lesotho’s Maluti mountain range. Resort staff worked tirelessly preparing a course that met international standards, resulting in several professionals from Europe and the US attending the event.

Now in its 8th year, Quiksnow is the highlight of the season for South African snowboarders. The Slopestyle contest format has been included in the 2014 Olympics, so it’s feasible that the continued growth of snowboarding in South Africa could result in a competitor one-day representing South Africa at the Winter games.

For more information visit: http://www.snowsports.co.za

MADAGASCAR Hapag-Lloyd introduces two Southern African expeditions Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is offering two expedition trips through Madagascar and Southern Africa in December 2012 and December 2013 on board the MS Hanseatic and the MS Bremen, with maiden calls on both itineraries. The Hanseatic, the world’s only five-star expedition ship and the Bremen, a four-star-plus expedition ship, provide intensive exploration in the most elegant surroundings for a maximum of 184 guests on the Hanseatic and 164 guests on the Bremen.

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The Hanseatic will call at six new ports in December 2012 – Maroantsetra, Nosy Hara, Morondava, Nosy Be, and Toliara and a first-time stop in Mozambique, at the picturesque city of Ilha dos Portugueses.

The 16-day cruise is from December 3-19, departing Port Louis, Mauritius, and ending in Cape Town.

In December 2013 the Bremen will visit the west coast of Madagascar for the first time. New ports of call in Madagascar will be Nosy Hara, Mahajanga, Morondava and Nosy Be. The 17-day cruise, from December 1-18, 2013, departs Port Louis, Mauritius, and ends in Cape Town.

For more information visit: http://www.hl-cruises.com

MOZAMBIQUE New GM for Polana Serena Hotel Polana Serena Hotel, Maputo, has welcomed Mr Miguel Afonso dos Santos, the hotel’s newly appointed General Manager.

At the same time, we also wish Mr Karim Merali (outgoing General Manager) all the best with his new position at the Aga Khan Development Network in Portugal.

For more information visit: http://www.serenahotels.com/serenapolana/ default-en.html

SEYCHELLES RETOSA meeting in Seychelles kick-starts with their 47th Executive Meeting The Regional Tourism Organization of Southern Africa (RETOSA) meeting, held in Seychelles between July 11-13 kicked off with delegates meeting for the 47th Executive Meeting.

The meeting took place at the International Conference Centre of Seychelles (ICCS and was attended by over 40 delegates from the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

It was followed by the 49th RETOSA board meeting on 12 July.

The meeting addressed issues relating to Regional Tourism Growth and Strategy for the region. It also discussed issues of regional integration, focusing on regional tourism growth infrastructure and development, including a tourism master plan for 2012 and beyond for the region.

For more information visit: http://www.retosa.co.za/

TRADE NEWS

SOUTH AFRICA Terra Nova Product Offerings Launch to the Insurance Industry Terra Nova launched their services to the Insurance industry at Liliesleaf on 24 July. The location of Lilieselaf was well received as it is such a significant heritage site, all attendees were blown away by the facility and their first exposure to it.

Terra Nova Conservation services have been providing risk management services to the insurance industry through undertaking various risk assessments in the tourism and wildlife industries as well as commercial property. Terra Nova has teams in place to undertake work throughout South Africa and have the ability to service projects throughout Africa and beyond.

For more information visit: http://www.tncs.co.za

Woman power for Greenway Woods Resort Three Cities Exceptional Hotels is proud to announce Venessa McTaggart from White River Mpumalanga, as the newly appointed General Manager for the premier family and leisure resort in Mpumalanga, Greenway Woods Resort.

The popular resort is situated on the border of the White River Golf Estate and is just 30km from the Numbi Gate, allowing easy and convenient access for guests into the acclaimed Kruger National Park.

Venessa has a list of accolades and achievements to her name having kick started her career with the Holiday Inn group. She went on to be part of the Sun International Hotel Group, working for the Table Bay Hotel and The Palace in Sun City where she was part of the opening of both hotels.

For more information visit: http://www.greenway.co.za/ or www.threecities. co.za

Sustain our Africa Summit, Expo and Festival More than 100 influential thought leaders from across the globe are gathering in Cape Town for the inaugural Sustain our Africa Summit, Expo and Festival in October this year to tackle, debate and find answers to the biggest question of all: Can Africa deliver enough for all, forever?

Sustain Our Africa will bring together economists, environmentalists, scientists, maverick entrepreneurs, artists, inventors and social champions to share their wealth of knowledge and experience. Sustain our Africa will unify powerful voices with a shared vision to affect positive environmental, social and financial change in Africa.

The Sustain Our Africa platform comprises various components including a Summit, Expo, Festival and the first dedicated sustainability magazine.

This annual event ultimately aims to make sustainable development a reality throughout Africa.

For more information visit: http://www.sustainourafrica.org

Taj Cape Town’s walk through past and present The Taj Cape Town is hosting ‘Footsteps to Freedom’ from 28 July to 29 September - a guided walking tour around key heritage sites in Cape Town’s historic city centre, as part of the luxury hotel’s unique service offerings. In association with the Only Team, a specialist team of tour guides who provide quality personalised experiences, the Taj Cape Town’s Footsteps to Freedom tours will provide locals and visitors to the city an opportunity to learn more about the city’s fascinating history. The Only Team has provided the Taj Cape Town with professional tour guides who will take participants on a leisurely walking tour of sites including St George’s Cathedral, the Slave Precinct, the Grand Parade, St George’s Mall, Company Gardens and Parliament.

For more information visit: http://www.tajcapetown.co.za/blog/

Reuben’s gets all fired up for National Braai Day Want to brush up on your braai skills for National Braai Day? Then gather your tongs and taste buds and head out to Reuben’s at The Robertson Small Hotel when this popular dining spot ignites the gourmet side of the grill during a Grills Gone Wild food and wine affair on Saturday, 15 September 2012. This sophisticated ‘braai boot camp’ in the heart of the Breede River Valley, invites you to get a head start on learning how to best honour National Heritage Day (24 September) and National Braai Day. Celebrity chefs, Reuben Riffel and the newly appointed Executive Chef at this 5-star boutique hotel in Robertson, Emile Fortuin, will share with guests their smoking hot braai secrets and divulge signature meat and side dishes cooked from the ultimate woodfueled fire to gas and charcoal-based.

For more information visit: http://www.therobertsonsmallhotel.com.

SA’s Rastafarians in Knysna For something really out of the ordinary, tourists should visit or overnight at Judah Square, SA’s largest Rastafarian community in Knysna.

A member of the community, Brother Zebulon Afrikaner, has begun offering tourists the opportunity to experience a taste of Rastafarian life with the introduction of tours.

For more information visit: http://www.knysnalivinglocal. co.za/judahsquare Image courtesy Ian Fleming Photography

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TRADE NEWS

Protea Hotel Hluhluwe & Safaris Save the Rhino Cheque Handover The Safari TEAM at Protea Hotel Hluhluwe & Safaris handed over a cheque of R12 000 to Hluhluwe Honorary Officers as a contribution towards the funds that are needed to complete the hangar for the Bantam aircraft that Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife section rangers are using to patrol the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park in an increasingly difficult battle against rhino poaching. The hotel is raising funds for various antirhino poaching activities and three months down the line is already close to the halfway mark of their initial target of raising R35 000.

Attending the handover were Rex Jones (Hluhluwe Honorary Officers), Gerry Eliot (Hluhluwe Honorary Officers chairman), Vusi Gumbi (Protea Hotel Hluhluwe & Safaris Guide), Rudi Edy (Protea Hotel Hluhluwe & Safaris Head Guide), Sanchia Maguire (Protea Hotel Hluhluwe & Safaris Safari Manager), Julian Simon (Hluhluwe Honorary Officers), Megan Williams (Protea Hotel Hluhluwe & Safaris Guide), Andre van Niekerk (Protea Hotel Hluhluwe & Safaris Assistant GM) and Garnet Jackson (Hluhluwe Honorary Officers).

For more information visit: http://www.proteahotels.com/protea-hotelhluhluwe-safaris-join-rhino-poaching-fight.html

TANZANIA

A passion for service excellence at new luxury Victoria Falls Safari Club There was a warm smile and a passion for service excellence awaiting guests of the new luxury Victoria Falls Safari Club when it opened on August 15.

Greeting discerning guests on arrival was Club Manager Claire Wright, who had been on-site for several months preparing for the big day. The 4-suite and 16room stand-alone Club wing is an opulent offering.

Wright started her career in the hospitality industry with a year at the N1 Hotel in Bulawayo, thereafter moving to London where she gained precious experience at The Hilton Park Lane, Hilton Croydon and Hilton Kensington, which has 601 bedrooms.

For more information visit: http://www.victoria-falls-safari-lodge.com/ safariclub/

Zimbabwe tourist arrivals up 18 percent

Tanzania National Parks revises tariffs Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) has revised tariffs across it national parks. The new tariffs will be effective from 1July 2013 as tour operators need prior notice of at least one year before enforcement. Tariffs will be revised every two years.

The current revisions have been done to accommodate new tourism products and operational costs. Prior to the latest change, tariffs have been revised three times; in January 2000, July 2004 and July 2006.

Changes in fees have been undertaken in the following activities: filming, walking safaris, sports fishing, boating, canoeing and kayaking, night game drives, guiding, vehicle, aircraft landing, entry fee, student, directors pass, bush lunch/dinner and snorkelling.

For more information visit: http://www.tanzaniaparks.com/

ZAMBIA Livingstone 2013 – celebrating the birth of a legend Livingstone 2013 will be an eight-month-long celebration featuring numerous international sport, music and cultural festivals and events.

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ZIMBABWE

Tourist arrivals in Zimbabwe surged 18% in the first quarter of this year to 346 299, helped by the stabilising economic and political environment, as the country turns into a safe and competitive destination in the region. A 2012 first quarter report produced by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) shows that tourist arrivals in the first four months rose to 346 299, up from 294 198 recorded in the same period in 2011.

The ZTA said the increase in arrivals was 13% above the projected average growth in arrivals in sub-Saharan Africa this year of 5%.

Mainland Africa remained the major source market, accounting for 308 646 arrivals in the period, up 19% from 258 388 in the comparative period last year.

South Africa maintained its position as the main source market in mainland Africa, representing a market share of 43%, a 2% growth from last year. Overseas arrivals increased 5% to 37 653, up from 35 810 last year despite general economic instability in the western world. Arrivals from America grew 28% to 9 901, while Europe’s contribution increased 16% to 16 829 in the period.Europe contributed 46% of the overseas arrivals, followed by the Americas at 26%.

A series of international sporting, cultural and musical events and festivals will be featured from 19 March (Livingstone’’s actual birthday) through to 16 November, the date when David Livingstone first viewed The Victoria Falls back in 1855.

Asia, Middle East and Oceania plunged 23%, 37% and 7% respectively. However, ZTA sees arrivals from these regions increasing due to the recently-introduced new airlines flying into the country.

For more information visit: http://www. livingstone2013.com/

To be featured in the Trade News section, e-mail: editor@tourismtattler.co.za

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For more information visit: http://www.zimbabwetourism.net/

TRANSPORT

Springbok Atlas Charter

celebrates exceptional heritage with brand-new look With sixty-six years of transporting millions of people in its fleet of luxury and semi-luxury vehicles, Springbok Atlas Charter is one of the largest, longest-lived complete transport management companies in South Africa and Namibia, writes Craig Drysdale.

In celebration of its exceptional heritage, the company’s trusted brand Springbok Atlas Luxury Charter has been given a fresh brandmakeover that reflects their stature and relevance in the transport industry today.

The company will also be introducing another string in their transport offering bow – “ATLAS Passenger Transport Division”, a division which will mainly focus on semi-luxury groups and private hires.

Springbok Atlas Charter is owned by Imperial Holdings Limited, a leading South African public company.

Springbok Atlas Luxury Charter is the transport provider of choice for a wide range of clients from government departments to mininghouses, corporates to community groups, educational institutional to churches, top sporting bodies to tours and safaris. Springbok Atlas Luxury Charter is the official transport provider to the Springbok

Rugby Team and Kaizer Chiefs; as well as the Service Provider to the 2010 Soccer World Cup and recently, the Manchester United Tour. These hard-won, top industry positions are testimony to the company’s high standards of safety and reliability, comfort and customer service.

Springbok Atlas Charter also prides itself on being a responsible business that takes a leadership stance when it comes to vehicle safety and driver performance, green transport and corporate social investment. The new branding of its divisions, and the strikingly modern new corporate identity have been carefully conceived and executed to communicate Springbok Atlas Charter’s standing in the South African business community, and its long and trustworthy track record in the transport industry.

For more information visit: www.springbokatlas.co.za

BEFORE

AFTER

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