Go Safari wins award

At a glittering SATSA - Gauteng Chapter - year end awards lunch held at the stunning Kloofzicht Lodge in the Cradle of Humankind on the 28th November 2008, Go Safari won the "Members of the Year" award.
Congratulations Glen & Susan!

UK paper readers vote Cape Town “Best World City”

The Telegraph Travel Awards for 2008 were released today and New Zealand, Australia and South Africa were voted the readers’ “favourite destinations on earth”; while their favourite cities were voted as Cape Town, San Francisco, Sydney and Vancouver.

The Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town was named one of the favourite city hotels in the world to visit.

More than 25,000 readers were polled in Britain’s biggest survey of travel habits and an overwhelming 92 per cent of them maintain that the financial crisis will not affect their choice of holiday destinations. 96 per cent of the readers polled refuse to downgrade their holiday accommodation.

The readers’ favourite destinations (outside of Europe) can be identified as ones where the pound has strengthened against the respective foreign currencies in the past year (the Australian and New Zealand dollars, and the South African rand).

The Telegraph readers’ holiday budget remains high – more than half of the readers polled spent more than £1,000 (R15,220) on their last holiday: one in six spent between £2,500 (R38,000) and £5,000 (R76,000) and one in twenty spent more than £5,000 (R76,000).

“As Britain enters a new winter of discontent, taking a break may never feel more needed, but the value for money it provides will be scrutinised like never before,” said Charles Starmer-Smith. “This is why, during belt-tightening times, readers return to destinations they know – namely, the English-speaking former colonies.”

President Thabo Mbeki resigns

President Thabo Mbeki has thanked South Africans for giving him the opportunity to serve them over the past 14 years, first as Deputy President and then as President of the country.
Mbeki formally resigned as President on Sunday after being asked to do so by the national executive committee of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
In a televised address to the nation on Sunday night, Mbeki said he departed the office knowing that South Africa had many men and women who had dedicated their lives to ensuring that the country, Africa and the countries of the south would, in time, create a better world for all of humanity.
Mbeki said goodbye to the nation in all 11 official languages, and also offered hope for the future.
"Gloom and despondency have never defeated adversity. Trying times need courage and resilience. Our strength as a people is not tested during the best of times," Mbeki said.
"We should never become despondent because the weather is bad, nor should we turn triumphalist because the sun shines."

Disney sends tours to SA

Adventures by Disney, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts that plans guided family vacations to various countries around the world, has decided to add South Africa as one of its eight new destinations to visit in 2009/2010.

The 12-day, 11-night safari to South Africa includes four nights in Cape Town, a four-night stay in the Garden Route towns of George and Knysna and three nights at Kapama Game Reserve next door to the Kruger National Park.

South Africa Tourism is excited by the prospect of more US tourists visiting the country. Chief marketing officer, Roshene Singh, says: “The US market is SA Tourism’s second largest source market and we are delighted that this initiative will bring more Americans to our shores.”

The Disney package offers a variety of activities, including visits to national icons such as Table Mountain and historical sites such as Castle of Good Hope, shopping at Greenmarket Square in Cape Town, wine tasting at Spier Winery, cooking classes in Stellenbosch, whale watching in Hermanus, visits to Monkeyland, Birds of Eden sanctuary and Featherbed Nature Reserve in Knysna, as well as game drives and bush walks at Kapama Game Reserve and numerous other activities.

THUNDER City at Cape Town International Airport has added a fully rebuilt Puma helicopter to its collection of heritage aircraft, which is the largest civilian-owned collection of ex-military jets in the world.

Thunder City is a special tourist attraction in that aviation enthusiasts from all over the world come here to fly the world’s last four flying English Electric Lightnings and three BAE Buccaneers, plus seven Hawker Hunters and a Strikemaster.

Newly appointed Thunder City ceo, Emilio Titus, says: “Our vision is to grow the market globally for passengers flying in our supersonic jets, as well as the modernisation programme for Puma helicopters. While we have a well-established market in the UK, Europe and the USA, I plan to expand our markets in the Middle East, Asia, Canada and Brazil.”
Story by: Hilka Birns

Singita voted world's best hotel again !!

The Singita Sabi Sands Game Reserve in the Kruger National Park was recently named the Best Hotel in the world in the 2008 Travel + Leisure Magazine's World Best Awards, making it the only hotel to win the accolade three times in the 13 year history of the awards.
Singita came second in last year's rankings but earned first place honours in 2004 and 2006.

The World's Best Award winners are determined through an online poll where globe trotters are asked to score a range of tourism companies and destinations based on their recent travel experiences. In the 2008 awards, Singita achieved an overall score of 94.2, for its "exceptionally well-designed lodges deep in the African bush."Other key features of Singita that were highlighted by Travel + Leisure include Singita's 14 000 bottle wine cellar, cuisine and "service that set the gold standard for bush luxury".

Despite their luxury rooms and facilities and unique bush experiences, Group Manager Mark Whitney attributes the hotel's success to the people who work there. "When we look at feedback from our guests, 90% of the time they write about the people who work here. It's our culture of service and the authenticity of our service that people remember." Whitney believes that Singita's success in the global tourism industry bodes well for South Africa. "[The global recognition] is remarkably good news for a small place on the southern end of the continent, that doesn't get a lot of good press."

Other South African hotels that featured in this year's Top 20 are Sabi Sabi Game Reserve (8) and the Cape Grace (20), while Bangkok was voted the world's best city and Virgin America, the world's best domestic airline. Singita will be presented with their award at a ceremony in New York on the 24th of July.

For a full list of winners visit: http://www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest/2008/

Article curtsy of http://www.sagoodnews.co.za/

My South Africa.

CNN International has joined up with South African Tourism (SA Tourism) in a bid to raise South Africa’s profile for CNN`s business and leisure travel audience ahead of the 2010 World Cup.

The three-year partnership launches this month with the creation of a website, mysouthafrica.tv, which forms part of the "My South Africa" brand campaign.The campaign will encourage CNN viewers worldwide to create their own page on the website, upload photographs, videos and stories that encapsulate their experiences of South Africa.By doing so, they stand a chance of winning a trip to South Africa.

As well as the competition mechanism, the online destination will host a picture gallery where visitors can rate each other’s entries and sign up for a monthly newsletter and quarterly virtual magazine."Our decision to embark on this campaign with CNN is informed by our determination, both to differentiate South Africa from competitor destinations and to entrench our excellent arrivals growth," said Roshene Singh, chief marketing officer at SA Tourism.
The tourism body aims to welcome 10-million visitors to South Africa in 2010 and feels it is well on its way to achieving its goal after receiving a little over nine million visitors in 2007.

An SA Tourism banner campaign will run across the My South Africa website. Print advertising will comprise a run of ad placements in CNN Traveller magazine, connecting with travellers across the globe.The My South Africa brand campaign will also be promoted via a push to blog sites and chat rooms, as well as social networking sites Facebook and Flickr, and CNN will produce a series of "call-to-action" television spots, the first featuring acclaimed music artist Yvonne Chaka Chaka, to entice viewers to the website

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