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Aloes of Southern Africa, , by Gideon Smith
Nominations for the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards 2008 commenced on Saturday 19 April. The Responsible Tourism Awards are the largest awards of their kind in the world and are a collaboration between online travel directory responsibletravel.com, who founded and organise the Awards, UK media partners Telegraph Travel and Geographical Magazine, and World Travel Market, who host the Awards ceremony. In 2007 they received over 1700 nominations from travellers around the world and they will be relying on your responsible travel know-how once again to find the best of the best in 2008. All nominees are assessed on an equal basis. Nominate a winner in the 2008 Awards, and you could win an unforgettable holiday for you and a friend! Real World Adventures by Virgin Holidays & Intrepid Travel is offering a fantastic prize trip of a 15 day tour of India. The prize includes 14 nights accommodation (11 nights hotel/guesthouses, 1 overnight train, 2 nights deluxe air-conditioned tent) and return economy flights with Virgin Atlantic to Delhi.
FTTSA moved to new premises on the 2nd of April 2008. They are also sharing this space with their partner Resource Africa, a leading natural resource management and community development NGO.
Multitudes of Batswana, young and old converged at the railway station to witness Rovos, a South Africa steam safari train traverses Botswana en route to Victoria Falls. Rovos, is a South African rail tourism company founded some 20 years ago in Witbank According to a news release from Botswana Railways this is the first steam train to traverse Botswana since the establishment of Botswana Railways. The organisations public relations officer Ms Alina Masenya told the gathering that it was indeed a great honour for Botswana to witness the steam train since Botswana Railways took over from Zimbabwean Railways some 20 years ago. For his part, a member of the Botswana Tourism Board Mr Joe Motse told the tourists that Botswana was unrivalled with an abundance of wildlife and natural resources. He said Botswana with its abundance of wildlife in the Okavango Delta, Makgadikgadi Pans and Chobe National Park was keen to encourage investment in tourism. Mr Motse reminded tourists that while in the Victoria Falls, they should also be aware that Botswana offers some of the best natural resources in the continent
Kenya has appointed a new minister for tourism who has first-hand experience of the industry. The appointment of Najib Balala raises hopes that the revival of the country's tourism business will be put back at the top of the new government's agenda. Balala was included in a new cabinet announced on Sunday as the country hosted 204 journalists from around the world on a mega-fam press trip. The week-long press visit was the first stage of the Kenya tourist board's strategy to boost its tourism market after a decline caused by recent political strife. Balala is originally from the coast and represents one of Mombasa's constituencies. He has previously worked in his family travel business. Key players in Kenya tourism believe this frontline experience will help him in his new role. Rose Kwena, corporate affairs and PR manager for the Kenya tourist board, was ecstatic when Balala's appointment was announced. "Balala is the best thing that has happened to Kenya tourism at a difficult time like this," she said. "He comes from Mombasa and 60% of Kenya's tourism activities are concentrated on the coast."
Mozambique Tourism Ministry is planning to grant, by the end of this year, certificates and patents or special brands to hotels and other tourist resorts, as recognition of their role in the promotion of social and environmental sustainable practices. Thus, the Tourism Ministry in partnership with the Hotel Association of Southern Mozambique and Centro Terra Viva is organizing as from last Monday a number of consultation seminars across the country to discuss the viability of this certification exercise in Mozambique. According to the tourism national deputy director, Hιlder Chambal, cited in Thursday's issue of the daily "Noticias", this initiative seeks to promote best practices on social and sustainable tourism that would yield results with impact in the regions where these units have been established. In his understanding, this certification will allow tourist resorts or hotels to be recognized not only for the quality of services provided, but also for their role in social development, environment protection and preservation. Certification and patenting are not expected to be obligatory
Namibia needs to invest more in marketing the country as a tourist destination all year round for it to attract investment especially in larger tourist facilities. Due to the seasonality of the tourism market, the country has very few establishments that offer between 10 and 30 rooms, which poses a challenge to some outbound travel agents. Seasonality remains the main challenge to investment in Namibia, said the Development of Sustainable Tourism Country Report: Namibia that was launched last Friday. The report said Namibia did not have an abundance of large group facilities that can offer accommodation for tourist groups larger than 60, a concern that was raised recently by United Kingdom outbound travel agents who wanted to book 20 to 30 clients in one location at the same time. "Larger overseas outbound agents block book hundreds of bed nights each season to ensure a supply of beds to sell to their potential clients," said the report, adding that these agents do not, however, guarantee that they would sell the bed nights
Top performers in the tourism industry in the city were honoured at the fifth annual Tshwane Tourism Awards ceremony, but strong calls were made for more efforts to sell townships as tourist destinations. Dikeledi Mashiane, chairperson of the Moshito wa Tshwane Tourism Association, said it was not enough to have tourists seeing townships from the windows of tour buses. "We must be able to invite tourists into the townships to experience what life in the townships entails," she said. Her words were echoed by Gauteng Tourism Authority's Morgan Mabaso, who said townships were a vital part of the tourism industry. He was delighted that some of the finalists for the awards ran township businesses. Acting Tshwane executive mayor William Mahlangu said role players in the city's tourism industry had to pull their weight to ensure they were ready for the 2010 World Cup. He said there were 17 000 beds for tourists in the city, but a demand of 40 000 was expected for the soccer event. "This means we are 23 000 beds short. We can't have a situation where people sleep in Johannesburg when they are attending matches in Tshwane," he said
The Royal Jozini Big six project development company has partnered with investors from South Africa to empower their Swazi partners through capacity building. Introducing the partners, Lubombo Development and Management Limited (LDM) Chairman Gideon Mahlalela said Henry Tsabedze and Pule Shakwane - who head Sizamimpilo Projects, Mbombela Projects and Indalo Solutions in SA - had recently invested into the Royal Jozini project through a joint venture with a Swazi company, Indalo Investments. He said the investors were currently involved in various activities necessary in the implementation of the multi-billion emalangeni project as well as other projects in SA. "Tsabedze and his partners are involved in several successful companies covering a diverse field of activities and bring a wealth of experience to the project," he said. Mahlalela said in the field of security, the investors were proposing to partner with the Lavumisa Community Trust and would be empowering a large group of individuals who would then be integrated into their South African network to gain all the expertise and experience necessary for the project
Mkuru Camel Safaris (MCS) was recently launched to help spread the knowledge of natural and cultural resources of North-Western Tanzania, in particular of the Meru-Kilimanjaro-Lengai Mountain Complex to stakeholders. MCS' aims include distribution of the benefits of tourism throughout the region, especially to the rural communities. Mkuru Camel Safari (MCS) is a community-based cultural and environmental tourism initiative, supported by Oikos East Africa and directly managed by local people, under the umbrella of the Tanzania Tourist Board's Cultural Tourism Programme. MCS has been attracting youths to be trained in tour guiding, natural resources conservation and management, interacting with cultural tourism, first aid services and English language. MCS' camp manager Ahimidiwe Josephat said, during the launch on March 8, that most of the youths from the village were now practicing tour guiding because they want to engage in businesses that are well paying and contribute towards environmental conservation compared to other destructive tasks like charcoal burning and poaching which prevailed in the village in the past
A former Presidential retreat and a collection of secluded luxury tree-houses are amongst the new circuit of Zambian safari lodges being launched this spring by Sanctuary Lodges & Camps. While the Zambian lodges vary in style and character, all will offer guests impeccable levels of service and comfort whilst allowing them to discover the spectacular wildlife and beautiful scenery of this relatively unknown African destination. Sanctuary's first Zambian property, Chichele Presidential Lodge, opened earlier this year. Puku Ridge Camp and Sussi & Chuma will open during May 2008, whilst the final lodge in the circuit, the Zambezi Kulefu Camp, will welcome guests from the end of June 2008. All of the properties were rebuilt and renovated by the luxury lodge specialist to operate on an environmentally sustainable basis, adhering to the company's ongoing effort to set a global benchmark for sustainable tourism
Have you ever watched three little girls taking part in a tumble weed race? Not likely you may say. I have been fortunate enough to be a spectator in such a race. Let me rather start at the beginning so as not to get ahead of myself.
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