Thandiwe January-McLean Resigns

Thandiwe January-McLean, the CEO of SA Tourism has resigned to pursue personal interests.

January-McLean has been with SA Tourism for a year and a half in total. Discussing the resignation, SA Tourism Chief Marketing Officer, Roshene Singh, says: "She led the organisation through its most challenging and exciting times. The year 2010 was a momentous year for all in tourism and under her leadership and drive, working closely with stakeholders across various sectors, South Africa attracted an all-time high of over eight million foreign tourist arrivals.

"Together with her team, the CEO always demonstrated professionalism and openness in engaging stakeholders to continue the positive momentum and brand positioning that was leveraged off the success of the Soccer World Cup tournament," says Singh. "She leaves a legacy of having moved the organisation forward to explore new markets and she firmly placed Africa and the domestic tourism agenda at the forefront of South African Tourism’s marketing efforts, while entrenching its core markets."

January-McLean will leave South African Tourism at the end of August, at which time Tim Scholtz will be acting CEO until the board has completed its recruitment process.

Gansbaai Cooks The Record Books

Despite a blustery, cold and rainy day hundreds of locals braved the weather and descended upon Gansbaai Academia High School to witness the largest single pot of Abalone (Perlemoen) ever cooked.

Besides having the oportunity to taste the potjiekos there were a number of other food and craft stalls to keep one indoors.  Competitions were arranged to entertain us.  Find the best hat, Mr and Miss Gansbaai and many others.

Chef Ian's team set out to beat the previous record of 45,8 Kilo's and had an optimistic target of 90 Kilo's in their sights.  All the preparation work and cooking was overseen by an independant judge and Toni the representative from Guiness Book Of World Records.

Well, not only did they beat the record at the final weigh-in, the Potjie came in at a whopping 103 Kilo's with more than 50 Kilo's of Abalone cooked to perfection.

Congratulations to Chef Ian and his team as well as Gansbaai Tourism.  Well done. 

Leopard Caught In Hermanus

For the first time, a leopard has been captured in the Hemel en Aarde Valley, Hermanus, and tagged and released for conservation research.

The capture, on Saturday, was instigated by the Landmark Foundation, an NGO dealing with conservation in Southern Africa – in a bid to provide detailed information of leopard movements and behaviour. Its director, Bool Smuts, said a farmer helped set and monitor a hi-tech trap as he believed the animal was responsible for livestock losses.

Smuts said this was the only known leopard in the area and was a breakthrough in facilitating the conservation of this species: “The foundation, farmer and CapeNature decided to capture it, place a GPS collar on it and track its subsequent movements. We were called when the (male) leopard was discovered in the trap and a veterinarian from Hermanus darted it before a GPS device was fitted.”

Smuts said apart from “superficial facial abrasions and contusions” the animal was in great condition and released back into the wild. He said the GPS data had already been obtained from the collar and shows the leopard moving in its natural range in the mountains.

The project has led to a leopard rescue, rehabilitation, release and research programme and has saved at least 40 from certain death. In the same period 38 leopards have died as a result of gin-traps, poisons and hunting.

Source: The Mecury

Convert Telephone Enquiries Into Bookings

Handling bookings enquiry calls is the most important aspect of room reservations management. The way the room reservations manager or the booking agent handles these calls could be the difference between getting the booking or loosing it.

Yet, in many hotels through my personal experience, I have seen reservations staff suggesting customers to book the hotel through travel agencies, Tour operators or OTAs instead! Seriously, what kind of industry does that?

In case the customer would not be happy with the price the travel agent or the tour operator offers, the travel agent will go ahead and suggests another hotel. There you go! You just lost a customer that wanted to book you hotel in the fist place.

Accordingly, redirecting customers to book through OTAs could result in ''loosing'' the customer. OTAs do list your hotel along with your competitors often in the same page, allowing patrons to choose from a variety of hotels in the same category and geographical area.

Because they have been working in the hotel for long time, the room division workers know a lot about the property, the quality of service it offers, and primarily the amenities it has. On this notion, I personally believe that the hotel staff is the most qualified to sell the hotel to customers.

To help you convert your booking enquiries into concrete bookings, I have put together the following tips:

Converting telephone enquiries calls into bookings check-list:

• Always keep rates ready on your desk.

• Be professional: Be warm and enthusiastic when you answer the phone, speak slowly and

clearly so that callers could understand you easily .

• Negotiate: A few dollars discount won't hurt. Remember! The travel agent will charge the guest higher prices than you would.

• Showcase the hotel's amenities and services: If the hotel has 5 pools for instance don't forget to mention it. Talk about the service quality the hotel provides.

• Before calling you, customers have probably checked online reviews about the hotel in Tripadvisor, HolidayChek or similar websites. If the hotel has favourable online reviews ask callers to check out what previous guests think about the property.

• Follow up: Keeping record of caller's phone numbers is very important for closing the sale.

Source: ehotelier.com

Backpacking, A Cheaper Alternative

South Africa is becoming a top destination for global travelers and especially backpackers. Students, seasoned travelers, and adventure seekers alike can all find some incredible activities in this coastal country. Backpacking is a wonderful way to have a cheap holiday in South Africa because it allows the time and flexibility to do so much, on a relatively small budget.

With South Africa perfectly situated between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, there is no better place to get in some amazing whale watching on your holiday backpacking. Hermanus has a variety of backpacking options available to suit all tastes.  In the town, you will find the world’s foremost land based whale watching location. It’s a charming little fisherman’s village complete with its own Whale Crier announcing the arrival of the majestic giants.

Nearby in the town of Gansbaai, you’ll find our frequent visitors the Southern Right whale and Great White sharks. This is the home for those more adventurous souls who want to experience the wonder and fear of going Shark Cage Diving. There’s nothing quite like the experience of swimming underwater while staring right into the eyes of a Great White.

New, Bigger Council To Serve All

In her acceptance speech at the inaugural meeting of the Overstrand Council, re-elected Executive Mayor, Cllr Nicolette Botha-Guthrie highlighted her priorities for her administration;

Ensuring housing for our poorer communities and public servants.

Achieving sustainable and environmentally-friendly local economic development thus creating much-needed jobs.

Protecting our environment and the conservation of our architectural heritage.

Maintaining law and order and establishing a Municipal Court.

Maintaining disaster management services and supporting victims of fires and floods.

Public participation through the well-functioning ward committee system.

Deepening democracy through a comprehensive network of communication channels.

Cllr Botha-Guthrie closed her speech with these words, "My promise to you all is that I will serve you with love, dedication and understanding, to ensure clean administration and to manage a corruption free municipality."

Overseas Visitor Statistics For February Prove Interesting

The latest stats from Stats SA shows some interesting figures.

Overall overseas visitors to South Africa between Feb 2010 and Feb 2011 increased by 7,7%.

Europe: up 1,7% to 128,000

UK: down -0,3% to 46,500

USA: up 25,9% to 18,000

Argentina: up 60,6% to 2,000

Brazil: up 18% to 3,000

Australia: up 37% to 7,000

India: up 41,5% to 5,500

Germany: up 7,6% to 23,500

Russia: down -7% to 731