Afrika T

Links for 2011-11-20 [del.icio.us]

2011-11-21T00:00:00-08:00

Hip Cities That Think About How They Work
Cape Town is among 10 "Hip Cities" as rated by the NY Times / International Herald Tribune. These are cities "that aim to be both smart and well managed, yet have an undeniably hip vibe. Our pick of cities that are, in a phrase, both great and good."

Links for 2011-09-26 [del.icio.us]

2011-09-27T00:00:00-07:00

Wangari Maathai: Africa's tree lady dies in Nairobi
Obituary of Nobel Peace Prize winner - "one of the most remarkable women of her generation". By Simon Allison in the Daily Maverick.

Links for 2011-09-22 [del.icio.us]

2011-09-23T00:00:00-07:00

Ethics and tourism take centre stage
Review of the first Congress on Ethics and Tourism, ten years after the UNWTO's Global Code of Ethics for Tourism was endorsed. Some talk, little action, little to show for the past decade. By Catherine Mack for TravelMole.

Links for 2011-09-13 [del.icio.us]

2011-09-14T00:00:00-07:00

Daily Maverick :: "Biko lives!", 34 years later
Khadija Patel interviews Andile Mngxitama, one of SA's most compelling intellectuals, about Steve Biko, one of the world's most compelling intellectuals
The mechanics of China's African expansion
How loans and loan guarantees from Chinese banks are building infrastructure in Africa - work done by Chinese companies and paid for by Africans at higher costs but fewer headaches.

Using Public Transportation in Cape Town - A firsthand account

2011-09-13T09:44:00.000+02:00

One of the long-standing challenges to visiting Cape Town has been getting around from place to place without your own set of wheels. The train, bus and minibus taxi services have historically been of questionable quality, reliability and safety, and are aligned to the needs of local commuters rather than visitors. Over the past few years this has been changing with the introduction of new MyCiti bus services and a major upgrade to the Cape Town Station (rail).

An intrepid soul recently decided to visit Cape Town as a tourist and get around without private (metered) taxis or a hired car, and wrote about his experience on the Trip Advisor Cape Town forum.

He used the MyCiti bus service from the airport and in the central city as well as to the V&A Waterfront, used rail to the Southern Suburbs and a 2-day hop-on/hop-off bus ticket from the City Sightseeing "topless" bus to get to wine tasting, Kirstenbosch, etc. On one occasion he used a Rikki.

His concluding thoughts:

So, to conclude, it is quite possible to have a great holiday in Cape Town using only public transport to get around although a lot depends on where your accommodation is in relation to a bus stop. Also you may be forced to take a cab if staying out late because the public transport does not run 24 hours. According to the website the MyCiti routes are going to be extended into the suburbs around the city bowl and Atlantic seaboard so getting around Cape Town is going to be a lot easier in the future.

Read the full post here.

Image: Cape Town Partnership

Unique Handspring Puppetry Tour - next week only

2011-08-30T05:52:00.000+02:00

The inspired minds at Coffeebeans Routes have developed what looks like an amazing tour experience that takes visitors behind the scenes (and in front of them) with the world-famous Handspring Puppet Company. Handspring is based in Cape Town, and won a Tony Award for their work on the Broadway theatre production, War Horse. Each of their puppets is a sculptural artwork, and the puppeteers bring exceptional empathy to their work. The tours are running during the Out of the Box Festival of puppetry, which in itself is well worth a visit or three. To book, contact Coffeebeans Routes.

Below, the blurb from Coffeebeans Routes:

If you love puppets in any form, and if you love the work of the world famous Handspring Puppet Company, then you will adore this limited edition tour.

The Out the Box Festival, in collaboration with Coffeebeans Routes and theHandspring Puppet Company, has created a unique puppetry route for the Festival, set in South Africa’s puppetry capital, Cape Town.

Guests will tour the Handspring Puppet Company's workshop, the home of the Tony award winning War Horse. Then you'll return to the festival precinct and go behind the scenes, meeting and interacting with featured artists from the festival. Finally, you will see one of the festival's extraordinary productions. It's a unique, limited edition opportunity, not to be missed.

Programme

15h00 for 15h30. Arrive at Festival Precinct.
15h30 depart for Handspring Workshop
16h15 tour of Handspring Workshop
17h15 return to Festival precinct
18h00 - 18h45 behind the scenes with featured puppetry artists
19h00 - 2000 dinner break (dinner for own account).
20h00 festival puppetry performance

The featured shows will be:

Mon 05 Sept 20h00 Ouroboros (Little Theatre)
Tue 06 Sept 20h00 Sadako (Little Theatre)
Wed 07 Sept 20h00 Hats (Rehearsal Studio)
Thur 08 Sept 20h00 Benchmarks (Little Theatre)
Fri 09 Sept 20h00 Punch and Judy in Afghanistan (Little Theatre)

BOOK NOW only 60 seats available over 5 tours

R395 per person

Cape Town and design - a video intro

2011-08-26T09:31:00.000+02:00

Cape Town has been shortlisted for the designation of World Design Capital for 2014, competing with Dublin and Bilbao. WDC is designated every other year by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) to cities that are dedicated to using design for social, cultural and economic development.

The bid team just released a video overview that showcases Cape Town's design -- don't just think fashion, film, graphics, etc. This is a different approach to design entirely (but that includes some serious eye candy), and the video gives a fresh insight into the character of the city as well as introducing some of the characters who are among the creative vanguard here.

Learn more at Cape Town's bid website, www.capetown2014.co.za

Indigenous People's Week 2011 8-12 August

2011-08-07T14:47:00.000+02:00

Planeta.com, Nutti Sami Siida and friends are hosting Indigenous People's Week August 8-12, 2011. This is an online unconference focusing on Indigenous Peoples and tourism. Themes include biodiversity conservation, crafts, cultural heritage, food and literacy (traditional reading and writing and digital literacy -- the emerging read write culture).

They are calling for recommendations of educational and engaging videos, podcasts, websites and online resources.

Indigenous People's Week highlights examples where tourism has helped the indigenous culture to prosper. Featured will be participants in the Indigenous Tourism and Biodiversity Website Award, which I was proud to judge for last year.

"The objective of Indigenous People's Week is to embed responsible indigenous tourism into the bigger picture," said Planeta.com founder Ron Mader. There are plenty of great examples of thriving indigenous cultures around the world, people who are eager to share stories and engage with visitors. Web 2.0 is being used by indigenous peoples and visitors alike and we invite friends to share stories that inspire and educate us all."

Afrika T looks forward to joining in the activities this week, highlighting indigenous South African tourism and cultural experiences. For those using Twitter, be sure to tweet with #ipw.

Indigenous People's Week

View more presentations from ron mader

The Darling Stagger: Early review of new Cape West Coast Trail

2011-08-01T09:29:00.000+02:00

The new Cape West Coast Trails are going through their early trial runs ('exploratory trails' they're called). These 2 night/2.5 day trails are great getaway breaks for weekends, and being fully catered and portered, they're about as effortless as a walking trail can be.

Here's an early review of the Darling Stagger trail, which I think could become an iconic culinary experience of the Cape Town region -- wine, olives, local produce, freshly caught seafood cooked on the shore, rolling hills, white beaches, art, theatre, stunning views, fresh air...something special is coming to life here.

Read a review by Louise de Waal here.

"Overall the Darling Stagger slack packing trail was a great success with fabulous food, wine tasting to make anybody’s mouth water, mixed with a good amount of calorie burning of walking and cycling, and great company."

(Then book for yourself! trails@capebiosphere.co.za or 0861 TRAILS)

ALERT: New Cape West Coast Trails open for booking!

2011-06-09T15:05:00.000+02:00

This is a great project I've been involved with for a couple of years now, and these amazing responsible tourism experiences are finally at the early stage of coming onto the market. Exciting to be involved from scratch and see the dream come to life. It's all managed by the non-profit Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve to benefit local communities and conserve the environment while providing an amazing local (and slow) travel experience.

The "Darling Stagger" is la dolce vita South African style strolling through vineyards and farmlands, eating olives, cheese, tasting wine, plus San culture and the beach...and lovely landscapes everywhere. "Eve's Trail" is an awesome beach walk with marine life, archaeological sites, wildlife, and amazing seafood...bird life...pristine fynbos...wow. And these will all be Green Flag trails when they officially launch.

The initial "exploratory trails" are open to test the trails and let the guides polish their craft a bit before opening up fully to bookings. We'd love for hikers, foodies, birders, cultural aficionados, responsible tourism activists and industry insiders (among others) to experience these trails and provide their thoughtful inputs about how they stack up, how they can be improved, and any and all other feedback. The readers of Afrika T are especially encouraged to participate, spread the word and provide your input.

Okay, enough of the sales pitch. Here's the official announcement:

Introducing hospitable Cape West Coast trails for everyone, from hardcore mountain lovers, twitchers and botanists to family groups and modern-day strandlopers. These slackpacking trails, without the schlep, are guided and catered, comfortable and safe. Hikers carry a small daypack, lifts and luggage are organised and local folk and restaurants prepare meals in tradional West Coast style.

The Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve (CWCBR) celebrates the launch of three hiking trails, one canoe trail and one recreational cycling trail. All now open for bookings.

DARLING STAGGER: A slow-paced, mouth-watering hiking trail from the hills of Darling through wine and olive farms to !Khwa ttu San Cultural Centre and down to Yzerfontein on the coast. (2.5 days, 25km)

EVE’S TRAIL: A wilderness hiking trail from Yzerfontein along 16 Mile Beach, veering into the West Coast National Park and along the restful Langebaan Lagoon. (2.5 days, 30km)

5 BAY TRAIL: A gentle coast-hugging hiking trail between the fishing villages of Paternoster and Jacobsbaai. (2.5 days, 28km)

WHEELS OF TIME: A recreational, back road cycling trail from Mamre to Darling, Elandsfontein Farm, the West Coast National Park and !Khwa Ttu (4 days, 146km).

BERG RIVER CANOOZE: An effortless downstream kayak from Hopefield to Velddrif with farm stays en route. (2.5 days, 40km)

The hiking and canoe trails are power breaks of 2.5 days duration and the starting point is less than an hour and a half’s drive from Cape Town. The cycling trail is 4 days but can be done as two weekend power breaks. The trails are or will be accredited Green Flag Trails indicating that they strive to be environmentally and socially responsible.

Opening Offers

Initial exploratory trails as well as launch trails, reduced in price, are now open for bookings.

Exploratory Trails (opening offer reduced by 45-55%, inclusive of accommodation,

meals and transfers)

Initial exploratory trails, reduced in price are expected to be a little rough around the edges as the guides and other service providers are put through their paces. Participation in these trails will create the opportunity for the guides to practice, grow and learn, and the feedback provided by hikers will help perfect the experience.

Launch Trails (reduced by 10% inclusive of accommodation, meals and transfers)

To celebrate the launch, trails will be offered at a reduced price:

The trail launches coincide with key events in the region:

Darling Flower Show: 16-18 September 2011
Opening of the crayfish season: ~15 November 2011
Argus Cycle Tour: 11 March 2012
Berg River Canoe Marathon: 12 – 16 July 2012

After the launch dates, the trails will be open for bookings at full price on dates suited to clients.

The Exploratory Trails will be led by experienced trail developer and hiker Ivan Groenhof, who will be supported by a specialist river or cycle guide (where appropriate), and two or more local guides.

For more information, full itineraries and prices and to book for special opening offers on above dates or for any date at full price please call Ivan on 083 261 7960 or email trails@capebiosphere.co.za; www.capebiosphere.co.za/html/people/trails.html

The aim of the Cape West Coast Trails is to improve the socio-economic well-being of communities living within the Biosphere Reserve boundary. The network of trails will start, end or pass directly through eight communities in the CWCBR namely, Atlantis, Mamre, Darling, Velddrif, Paternoster, Jacobsbaai, Langebaan and Yzerfontein. Guides, caterers, drivers as well as accommodation and meals in restaurants have been sourced in these communities. We hope that you will join us as a pioneer in the early stages of development of these exciting trails.

Links for 2011-05-30 [del.icio.us]

2011-05-31T00:00:00-07:00

Bibliophilia
Boutique bookstore in Cape Town specialising in art, design and photography. Located in the Woodstock Industrial Centre.

Links for 2011-05-29 [del.icio.us]

2011-05-30T00:00:00-07:00

Vredehoek's cooking
Restaurants for locals in the Vredehoek neighbourhood reviewed by Brent Meersman of the Mail & Guardian.

Links for 2011-05-25 [del.icio.us]

2011-05-26T00:00:00-07:00

My Black Book
Handy list of where to go for what in terms of food and drink in Cape Town. From The Foodie blog.

Doung Jahangeer - seeing cities

2011-05-17T08:26:00.000+02:00

As part of a conference and exhibition on responsible tourism in cities that I helped produce recently, we included an optional excursion which was a walk through the centre of the city of Durban guided by architect, artist and iconoclast, Doung Jahangeer. He has remarkable insights into cities, and particularly the spaces in-between the structures that we usually associate with places. If you want to learn (or be reminded) how to not just look but to see the spaces and places around you in a city - or in any community - you'd be hard pressed to find a better teacher than Doung.

Here, large segments of the walk were filmed by Iain Harris of Coffeebeans Routes. Highly recommended viewing.

Be sure to view the full set of segments:

Segment 1 (as embedded above): "Seeing with your heart"
Segment 2: "If you come here, you are mad..."
Segment 3: "You've got guns, go and shoot them"
Segment 4: "Meaning in meaningless matter"
Segment 5: "Andy Warhol pissing in his grave"
Segment 6: "The cheapest and the best food here"
Segment 7: "The story of the tomato"

The walk took place in the following part of Durban:

View Larger Map

The route began on Canongate Road and went via Acorn Road, Wills, Douglas, Acorn, across the M4 to Market Street and into the markets, exiting on Bertha Mkhize Street.

Real Mexican food in Cape Town (at last!)

2011-05-16T07:09:00.000+02:00

Just a fly-by blog post, but a necessary shout-out to San Julian Taco & Tequila, the first and only real Mexican restaurant in Cape Town. The menu is simple with daily specials added. Only open for dinner Mon-Sat. Family run. Not inspired, but the authentic thing. The owners are from Rincón and cook accordingly, with some concessions to other Mexican regions. The hand made corn tortillas are a dream come true for me, and they sell them to take away at R30 per dozen.

Find them at 3 Rose St. in De Waterkant, +27 (0)21 419 4233, and on Foursquare.

A more thoughtful review by Tom Robbins here.

[Photos: Ron Mader, Planeta.com]

Stephen Watson, poet of Cape Town, dies

2011-04-11T09:43:00.000+02:00

Stephen Watson, one of the most insightful writers and compelling poets about Cape Town died on Sunday morning, 10 April 2011. His work was essential to my deeper understanding of aspects of Cape Town that came through in my work on the Cape Town episode of A Country Imagined, and I interviewed him as part of that project. His book, The Other City, is brilliant.

JM Coetzee wrote of him in 2000, "Whether writing about the loves of men and women or about walking out under the African stars, Stephen Watson is a better poet than his time (the expiring end of the twentieth century) and his place (squalid, beautiful Cape Town) deserve."

Below, a blog post from author Mike Nichol, on Book.co.za:

Poet and essayist Stephen Watson died early yesterday morning. His writing life is not associated in any way with crime fiction – in fact I don’t even know if he read it. But he is associated with the city of Cape Town, the city that has come to dominate the settings of our crime thrillers. One of Stephen’s ideas was that a city needed an imaginary life, something that Cape Town – or the citizens of Cape Town – seemed to resist. As he memorably put it: ‘…([W]hen its citizens and tourists go to the beach here, they step into water, colder or warmer, but not into literature’. In the collection of essays he edited about the city, A City Imagined (2006), he found that this was changing. That writers could not ‘desist from imagining and reimaging the place of our lives’. From the readers’ comments local crime writers receive, it would seem that they have become part of the imagining of this place.

In tribute to Stephen, an extract from his Afterword in A City Imagined:

A person writes so much about a place not because he belongs, but because he wants to belong. He writes about a city, seeking out its hidden coordinates, the substructures that might define it – the character of its light, the dryness of its stone – not only because instinctively, as the American writer Flannery O’Connor once put it, that ‘if you are going to write you’d better have somewhere to come from’.

In fact I did not understand, in my youth, that in writing about Cape Town I was trying to compensate for the degree to which that city, like the rest of South Africa at the time, afflicted me with a sense of homelessness. My passionate identification with the place was fuelled by a no less impassioned sense of homelessness. The stone of its streets, the sight of the sea and its confluence with sky, whether drained of light or light-filled, the precise way in which it bleached with the onset of the first winds of summer – I tried for a long time to invest such things with all that I lacked, all that was lost, and which indeed could not be found. I was one of those who write about a city, peopling it, but also trying to capture that meeting of coastline and skyline – those impalpable things – in order to define and create a home for himself, a home that does not exist – and then, beyond that, to reinvent for himself, in his own exile, a lost kingdom, the lost tradition.’

Update: full obit and appreciation from BOOK Southern Africa here. Includes links to his various publications available for purchase.

Obit from The Times (SA) here.

[Photo: BOOK Southern Africa via Flickr]

Johannesburg tour operators

2011-04-01T11:59:00.000+02:00

I've been asked on numerous occasions for recommendations for tour operators for Johannesburg experiences. Here are a couple I've run across recently that sound good and come highly recommended, although I've not used their services myself.

Aahaah Tours: Zandile Dhlamini takes you on a culinary tour of the food of Soweto. Not just the standard fare, but some real inventiveness and cross-cultural creativity taking place, with quality apparently on the rise. One I'd love to do. zandi.aahaah@gmail.com
Past Experiences: Jo Buitendach, an archaeologist, takes you on historical and archaeological tours in and around Jozi. David Smith of the Guardian (UK) sang her praises for the "great walking tour of Joburg." Can't be all that bad... www.pastexperiences.co.za

Three takes on responsible tourism in major world newspapers

2011-03-30T14:35:00.000+02:00

In the month of March, I've seen the New York Times (USA) and the Guardian (UK) publish three different articles addressing responsible tourism (though not always explicitly labelled as such). Does this mean the topic is going mainstream? Or captured the zeitgeist? Or simply a coincidence?

Who knows.

But it's interesting, and each article is worth a read. Working chronologically from back to front:

Is there a right way to spend money while traveling? (NYT, 9 March 2011). Includes 8 tips for spending responsibly when travelling in developing countries. A non-denominational take, quoting both CREST and the ICRT.
Adventures in Humanitarian Tourism (NYT, 25 March 2011). Lists 8 (what is it with lists of 8 things?) volunteer travel companies / tour operators. Linked indirectly to an article on what Sean Penn is doing in Haiti, which I don't really like, but then again, I'm not selling newspapers.
I want a holiday, not a guilt trip (Guardian, 28 March 2011). A snarky send-up of the pressure to travel in an ethical manner, but written without much wit. Important to read, however, lest one lose sight of the fact that most travellers don't really want the ethical dimensions of their trip foregrounded (good, bad or otherwise) -- they're looking for an experience, to relax, to indulge, etc.

How to choose a local tour operator

2011-02-27T19:34:00.000+02:00

Choosing a local tour operator can be a challenge for travellers, particularly when booking in advance and coming from another country. For the ethically-minded traveller, the insistence on a responsible tour operator adds to the challenge (given that certification schemes are relatively new, expensive for operators to attain and keep, and unfamiliar to most travellers).

I received the following sensible advice from one of the more experienced responsible tour operators, AWOL Tours:

The tourism industry is very competitive and prices vary vastly but when making a decision its best to take the following into consideration:

Hidden Costs: Many tour operators exclude entrance fees and lunch, and you could end up paying more than you expected by going on a cheaper tour.

Meals: Check if meals are provided on a tour and what the quality of meals are.

Last minute cancellations: Companies offering scheduled tours need a minimum number of guests (often 4) to operate the tour and will cancel trips at the last minute if they can’t fill the quota. So don’t be caught out when you have spent all the time and effort in planning your holiday only to be left in the lurch. If you have the budget rather book on a private tour with guaranteed departure.

Private versus scheduled tours: Check to see whether you are joining a scheduled tour and what the minimum and maximum numbers of guests are. By booking on a private tour the travel experience is vastly superior as you are guaranteed a personalised experience.

Transfer delay: Another hassle with touring on scheduled trips is the delay in transfers. It takes at least half an hour to an hour for the tour vehicle to go around to all the hotels and guesthouses picking up all the tour participants and often there are hassles and delays - which means you could end up spending half your holiday in hotel lobbies waiting for the tour vehicle to arrive.

Illegal Operators: Check out how long the tour company has been in operation for, as there are still too many fly-by-night operators that are not properly certified and may be using illegal guides. SATSA and Cape Town Tourism do a stringent certification process and also guarantee tour deposits if you book a tour with one of their members. On its National tour guide day, the national Department of Tourism performs spot checks at various destinations to ensure guides are properly licensed.

Responsible Operators: Check to see what the operator's responsible tourism policy is. By booking with a Fair Trade and Tourism Certified establishment you can be assured that your money goes towards improving the livelihoods of the employees and the community it's intended to. Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa does a stringent annual audit to ensure that measures are in place to ensure environmental sustainability, that local communities benefit and that employees are paid fairly.

Safety: Please ensure that you are accompanied by an accredited tour guide who can advise you on the safety aspects of the particular area. All registered Tour guides are first aid qualified and have the necessary skills and expertise to deal with an emergency.

At present, Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa is the only responsible tourism certification scheme that accredits tour operators for their tours. However, there are many high quality tour operators who may not (yet) be FTTSA certified, so the above advice should be taken in to account - even when assessing a FTTSA certified tour operator.

Do you have additional steps you use when deciding on a tour operator? We would love to hear from you as well.

A Country Imagined wins 2011 SAFTA award

2011-02-21T08:47:00.000+02:00

The TV doccie, A Country Imagined, won the SAFTA award category for Best Factual / Educational Programme. Just a bit of celebration in cyberspace. Woohoo! SAFTAs are the Academy Awards of South Africa.

For those who don't know, A Country Imagined is a BBC-style epic series of 13 x one hour episodes with amazing aerial footage as well as interactions with amazing South African artists. A-List South African musician, Johnny Clegg, is the narrator and 'everyman' who criss-crosses the country engaging with the landscape and representations of it.

The link between this project and responsible travel? More substantial than you might think. My thoughts here.

So nice to have worked on an amazing project like this and to have others recognise the quality of the result. Congratulations to the entire team (especially Tracy!), and to Curious Pictures for making it all happen.

Missed the series on TV (even though it was re-broadcast)? You can buy it on DVD.

Woohoo!

How to participate in RT Week 2011

2011-02-14T08:45:00.000+02:00

A useful short video from Planeta.com's editor, Ron Mader, on how to participate in RT Week 2011:

Interview with Planeta.com about RT Week 2011

2011-02-11T08:51:00.000+02:00

Video of my recent interview with Planeta.com editor and founder of RT Week, Ron Mader, about how Cape Town is preparing to participate in RT Week 2011 (14-18 February).

I've been moonlighting as editor of ResponsibleCapeTown.co.za, so apologies if there's overlap between content. I'm trying to keep that minimised.

Cape Town's Woodstock in NY Times...again

2011-02-07T13:20:00.000+02:00

So back in May 2010 the NY Times ran a lovely wet-kiss piece about the Woodstock neighbourhood of Cape Town in its "surfacing" series as part of the Travel section. Now, 8 months later, Woodstock is in again, this time in the Arts section in its "scene/seen" series.

(Someone please give Cape Town's US PR agency a bonus!)

Another lovely wet-kiss piece, the only major oversights are that they didn't mention the iconic Greatmore Studios, and they gave too much space to the yuppified and out of character Old Biscuit Mill, IMNSHO. Sigh. If only they'd asked me, right?

Would have been nice to include some of the artists who have focussed on Woodstock as well. I like the pieces Josh Miles has recently done on the city, particularly this Woodstock street scene, and there are several other artists to pick from.

ANYway, here's the current NYT piece.

And for those who are interested, the previous NYT piece, and my blog post about it.

RT Week 2011 shaping up to be big in Cape Town

2011-02-02T09:24:00.000+02:00

Responsible Tourism Week 2011 is 14 - 18 February, and Cape Town looks set to participate in a significant way. This is the third year of RT Week, and it seems to be gaining real traction.

I'm involved with the team at Responsible Cape Town (www.responsiblecapetown.co.za), and I can tell you that there will be a good number of Cape Town RT stories shared during RT Week by various people involved in RT (and related activities) in the Mother City. The mainstream media looks like it is also getting the bug, and we may have some coverage of RT Week as well.

The challenge now is to get the 3000+ tourism businesses in the city to get online and participate in the broader global dialogue, meeting their colleagues from around the world and listening to their stories. I'm working right now to try to make that happen...we'll see.

Looking for ideas on how to get involved? Anyone can participate by joining the conversation, either online or with local friends, neighbours and colleagues. All it takes is to reach out and engage in conversations about responsible tourism — even better if you reach out to someone new. Ideas for getting started are to use the #rtweek2011 hashtag in Twitter, check out the Responsible Tourism Networking group or the RT Week event on Facebook, visit the Arty Forum, comment on the photos in the Ecotourism Africa Flickr group (and post your own to the group), or write your own tweet or post and share it.

I'll be posting updates here from time to time, and there will also be updates on the blog at responsiblecapetown.co.za -- or you can follow me on Twitter (kurt_a) if you want a prompt when the latest posts are up on Afrika T.

Background on RT Week 2011 available on the Planeta Wiki here.

The origins of responsible tourism

2011-01-29T10:14:00.000+02:00

A nice, concise piece about the origins of responsible tourism has just been posted by RT guru, Harold Goodwin. Well worth a quick squizz. Reference to the Cape Town Declaration in terms of a more formal definition, but kudos to Krippendorf's book, The Holiday Makers, which is widely seen as the touchstone for RT (and an inspiration for many).

Goodwin's blog post here.

Cape Town Declaration here [pdf format].

Krippendorf's The Holiday Makers here.

ethical consumerism: 'farce' says Zizek

2011-01-27T10:45:00.000+02:00

This short, incisive animation by the RSA of philosopher Slavoj Zizek's opinion of charity and the trend toward ethical consumerism is an important critique of the foundations of responsible tourism and ethical travel. A philosopher of the radical left attacking bleeding heart liberalism? You betcha. The knives are out.

Does ethical consumerism merely reinforce the system that keeps the needy needy and the powerful in power? Or does it introduce a counter-influence to the profit-seeking of market capitalism that changes the dynamics from a zero-sum game to something less red in tooth and claw?

I have to confess my own growing ambivalence here. Would love to hear from others on this fundamental issue.

Profile of Zizek from the Telegraph (UK) here, Zizek's bio at the European Graduate School here. Some of my earlier thoughts on charity and travel can be found here.

[Photo of Zizek: Wikipedia]

Grootbos one of '50-best Hotels in the World'

2011-01-05T14:55:00.000+02:00

FTTSA-accredited Grootbos, located between Hermanus and Gansbaai some two hours from Cape Town, was named to the UK Telegraph's "50 best hotels in the world" list. From the Telegraph article:

Found on one of the world’s finest whale-watching coastlines, this five‑star retreat offers unadulterated luxury without the guilt. Every effort has been made to assimilate these fabulous private lodges – complete with all mod cons, state-of-the-art bathrooms, four-poster beds and unsurpassable views – into the environment. And what an environment: a 1,750-hectare reserve that is home to more than 740 different species of plants and the impossibly white sands of Walker Bay.

Pity that no mention was made of the long-standing Grootbos commitment to the other two pillars of sustainability, i.e., social and economic sustainability, that made them a pioneer of responsible tourism in ~~South Africa~~ the world. Further proof that responsibility and quality go hand-in-glove.

Grootbos is up there with the Four Seasons George V in Paris, The Carlyle in New York, the Sukhothai in Bangkok and other icons of the hotel universe.

h/t Whale Cottage

World Responsible Tourism Day 2010 - some highlights

2010-11-11T09:51:00.000+02:00

Arrived at last, World Responsible Tourism Day had a few nice highlights and a surprise or two.

Here in Cape Town I was keeping the news rolling over at the Responsible Cape Town website, tweeting with the RT Network and Cape Town Tourism attendees at WTM, and presenting on the city's RT plans to members of the local tourism industry. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to get to the "Taste of Fairtrade" wine tasting over at the Cape Grace Hotel...maybe I need to re-think my priorities?

The international Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Award winners were announced. Last year, Cape Town won in the Best Destination category. It's still remarkable to me that no other city has won -- or even been highly commended -- since the award category was introduced 5 years ago. What is it with RT and cities somehow not connecting?
A quick analysis of the category:

DESTINATION	COUNTRY	YEAR	TYPE	AWARD
Nurture Lakeland	UK	2010	Rural region	winner
Kangaroo Valley Tourist Association	Australia	2010	Rural region	highly commended
Cape Town	South Africa	2009	City	winner
Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty	UK	2009	Rural region	highly commended
New Zealand	New Zealand	2008	Nation	winner
St Peter's, Broadstairs, Isle of Thanet, Kent	UK	2008	Town	highly commended
Town of Bouctouche	Canada	2008	Town	highly commended
The New Forest	UK	2007	Rural region	winner
Arugam Bay	Sri Lanka	2007	Rural region	highly commended
Costa Rica	Costa Rica	2007	Nation	highly commended
Aspen, Colorado	USA	2006	Town	winner
The Greenbox	Ireland	2006	Rural region	highly commended
Travel Foundation Tobago	Tobago	2006	Nation	highly commended

Anyway, this year's winners can be found here, and congratulations to all!

A closing thought: Nothing from Africa. Nothing from North America. Hmmm.

There's an analysis that needs to be done of the political, linguistic and cultural linkages between the UK-based RT institutions that drive these awards (WTM, ResponsibleTravel.com, ICRT), the places/projects that apply for awards, the judges who evaluate them (all of whom were UK-based in 2010 and all appear to be British from reading their bios), and competing institutions around the world. I don't have the information (or time) to do such a thing, and it may show nothing at all (or be inconclusive).

There is a clear UK (predominantly) bias to the awards overall, and it would be helpful for some aggregated statistics on the number, nature, location, etc., of applicants to be released by the awards body. Were there applicants from the USA, Canada, Mexico or the 52 nations of Africa? How many? And in comparison to how many from the UK? Anyway, hopefully my line of thought comes across.

I think these awards are important and useful, and I hope that as RT continues to develop a more mainstream profile that the awards body will continue to reassess their role and value to RT and to tourism more broadly, and make changes accordingly.

E-Tourism Africa, Day 2 morning

2010-10-26T14:47:00.000+02:00

Let me begin with an apology that I had to leave the conference early yesterday and arrived late today, so missed several sessions. Unfortunately, my call for an ambitious blogger to cover those sessions went unanswered...alas.

For Day 2, I arrived late, missing the talk by Mariette du Toit-Helmbold of Cape Town Tourism (regrettably). I came in at the tail end of SA Tourism's head of e-marketing, William Price, giving his presentation. I missed him giving a quote that was tweeted by others in attendance, that "social media is the biggest thing since Industrial Revolution". Not something I'm ready to accept - sounds a lot like the overhyped statements about the web back in the 1990's. Yes, social media is important, but...the Industrial Revolution? Not.

William's presentation was largely about SAT's various online digital activities, including a national product database that they're building -- nice to see them using the carrot not the stick (i.e., no legislated registration requirement). I'm not convinced, however, that a national destination is the best scale for selling a destination -- city-regions are stronger calling cards and gateways into destinations. Also, niche experiences draw people to destinations, but cut across traditional political (provincial, national, etc.) boundaries -- such as birders who visit Zambia, Swaziland and South Africa, or people going on safari to Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. The blogs, clubs and specialty tour operators that focus on these niches are far more powerful determiners of destination choice than a national DMO. SAT are doing many smart things, though, and 2 years in is still early days to assess the strategic impact of their work.

Next up was Tara Turkington of Flow Media, talking about story telling. She showed a number of examples (from her clients' websites, of course) that illustrated the following factors that make for a great story (in journalistic terms, not dramatic terms):

Timeliness
Proximity
Prominence
Impact
Novelty
Money
Sex & scandal

This is a basic list from a journalism textbook, but very useful to be reminded. No guarantee that a story written with these factors will catch on with audiences, but pretty much guaranteed that a story that doesn't have these factors won't catch on. (Note to Tara: That Banff squirrel has been around for 15 months...)

After the coffee break came Cameron Ewart Smith, editor of Getaway Magazine

Some highlights:

"iPad will change the way that we publish" (especially Flipboard app)
Magazine readership is growing (in SA), not shrinking
The synergy between media / platforms is what makes it all work, provided the model shifts to enabling in / engaging in conversations.
Travel media consumers (considered "affluent" by SA terms because they have disposable income to spend on travel) are hungry for short articles, lots of photographs, humorous content (top 3).
Also mentioned augmented reality (Tuscany+ mentioned) - also came up with Jesse Desjardins in yesterday's sessions.

With the conference running nearly an hour behind, Diego LoFuedo, Expedia's Regional Manager for Eastern Med. & Africa was up. Highlights:

Too many distractions are affecting product owners - they need to concentrate and get back to basics: improve rate quality, increase conversion with availability, content & reviews efficiently. The first two can be enabled with connectivity technology, the third with standardisation of content (consistency, brand-alignment, etc.) -- interesting relationship to being "content fit" as Tara Turkington would say, and it's easier to stay fit if one has appropriate pre-prepared standardised content chunks to work with.
South Africa was the first African market to enter online travel, but its growth curve flattened out and in the last 18 months the rest of the continent is catching up -- as are other long-haul destinations such as Bali. Obstacle: connectivity, by which he means getting products online with inventory.
Crucial to online success: planning, planning, planning - ahead. At least 18 months. People book well in advance and plan even farther in advance, particularly for long haul destinations.
Online, content is what justifies rates: what confirms value to customers is content, content, content. Not price. Content can be images, reviews, descriptions, details, etc.
Better for accommodation providers to follow airline rate principles that reward early purchases (cheaper, non-refundable, etc.) - hoteliers in their current habits are training customers to wait until the last minute because that's when they begin to discount "last minute" inventory.

Next before lunch was Theresa Emerick of Nightsbridge, who gave a half-hour infomercial on their product. Other conference sponsors who gave presentations also talked about their products or services, but I perceived no added value from this session. Maybe I was just low on blood sugar. I think the Nightsbridge product and service offering is very good. Just not this presentation.

Not sure if the afternoon's presenters will all be like this...hope not.

Morning coverage of E-Tourism Africa

2010-10-25T13:18:00.000+02:00

The E-Tourism Africa "Summit" kicked off this morning. Some notes and observations from the session before lunch:

First up was Cape Town Tourism's CEO, Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, who spoke for fifteen minutes or so. Most interesting to me was her point regarding the need for the country to deal with the post-World Cup lapse in terms of identity, positioning, offering, etc., and that Cape Town (for example) is trying to get its brand positioning re-aligned for the future to try to capitalise on the gains from the World Cup. A bit late for this I think, but not too late and it is an essential thing to get done -- and do properly (even if a bit late). CTT certainly understand the importance of e-marketing, are getting quite good at it, and have really embraced the storytelling approach to destination marketing, which is spot on.

Damian Cook, CEO of the conference organiser, spoke next for most of an hour. Some observations, from a torrent of data and examples he shared, with my thoughts and questions that I'm wrestling with appended:

African products and destinations are selling to an aging demographic because the traditional markets are reached in different ways than the upcoming markets. Points cited: Half the world's population are under 30, 1 billion people are online -- but I wonder, what proportion have the potential to be customers, and which are worth investing in now, and in what proportion to overall marketing spend? Yes, demography is destiny, but it moves slowly...and timing is crucial to making these things work for a destination or product.
Damian credits the Internet with higher IQ...really?!? Would like to see the data on that.
The whirl of data presented seem selected to whip up anxiety around e-tourism and therefore prep delegates to need the expertise of the speakers (good for a conference host to do, of course, and done very well indeed). However, this also undermines the integrity of his overall argument - would be great if the presentation were online so the facts and figures didn't just fly by. No doubt the trends are there, but important exceptions, counter-trends and nuances are also there (not presented, of course), which need to be understood and dealt with.
In a similar vein, the value of various social media networks was touted, but unfortunately was not matched up against South Africa's important travel markets, e.g., lots of North American (USA) trends, but how does that vary with Germany, UK, China, etc. which have different technology adoption trends, underlying costs, social systems, infrastructure, etc?
The point was well made that, online, "Users are in Control" (as exemplified by Time magazine's person of the year being "You"). This trend toward user control of interactions with destinations/products is true, I believe, but what about the increasingly private internet(s) and closed networks of information that are undermining this? On Facebook, for example, users are in control, but with features that Facebook provides/enables, and with the data from that user behaviour used and sold to advertisers and others. Private and/or tiered internets (like toll roads) may be coming. And security concerns (digital and national) may clamp down on the openness and anonymity that drive certain aspects of online interactions and innovation.
Cool Factor: Augmented reality (e.g., Mtrip) looks like it could be a big deal, especially for travel. Wow, on the eye-candy front. Need to get my head wrapped around that more, to see whether it's a big deal at a more fundamental level.

Jesse Desjardins, brought to Cape Town to do 72 Hours in Cape Town, looked like a stunt, but he turned out to have a lot of smart things to say, and had great visuals and content (his day job being to design presentations for people as part of a Paris-based creative agency). Key extracts from his points on making social media work:

Use video: 2-3 minutes max
Learn to tell a story - there is a craft to doing this
Work with what you have - doesn't have to be slick
Commenting gets you noticed - publishing isn't enough, participate and comment, too.
"Virtual bragging"is a trend that you need to understand and enable
Don't go for total number of fans or friends, go for fans that will participate
Freemium, and the "give first" mindset
Tell your story at the right time
Content, not advertising
90% creativity, 10% distribution. Get the creative right and the distribution almost takes care of itself

View his 72 second video summary of his experience here.

Next up, some insights from the presentation by Pete Ward of WAYN.com, on aspects of human nature that drive success in social media:

People love to share
People love to feel good
People love to show off
People love money can't buy experiences
People want to be rich and famous
People value status and being popular

Not pretty, but pretty much true. Worth being reminded of.

A couple of other noteworthy items:

FAIL: Free wi-fi was not available for the conference, delegates were told they had to go buy cards for access. Jesse Desjardins made the point during his presentation that guests expect wi-fi will be as available and free in their room as water and electricity -- and so do conference delegates. How can a conference devoted to online issues NOT provide wi-fi for delegates (especially given a >R2000 price tag to attend)?!?

GREENWASHING: Print advert in the CTICC touts Cape Town has 3rd best drinking water in the world...then serves bottled water in the conference.

GOOD NEWS: "All presentations will be made available at a SlideShare address" says Damian. Great!

E-Tourism Africa Conference in Cape Town

2010-10-22T13:14:00.000+02:00

A much-hyped "summit" on e-tourism in Africa will be taking place in Cape Town on Monday and Tuesday next week (25-26 October 2010). It is put on by E-Tourism Frontiers (an organisation that I confess I don't entirely understand) and "brought to you" by South African Tourism (who are getting better at e-tourism) as well as "hosted by" Cape Town Tourism (who are getting masterful at e-tourism).

I'll be attending many of the sessions and will blog from the ~~conference~~ summit as well as tweet (you can follow me on kurt_a), where I'll be using the official ~~conference~~ summit hashtag, #etasummit.

~~Conference~~ Summit organiser, Damian Cook, advises via Twitter that there will be live video streaming from the ~~conference~~ summit, and as soon as I have more information on that, I'll post/tweet about it.

I'm trying to go into this with an open mind, but the lead-up has been underwhelming

no social media used to engage potential or registered delegates in advance
the programme posted (by PDF) two days before the ~~conference~~ summit
no publicity of the ~~conference~~ summit hashtag (as far as I know, only @damiancook's one tweet mentions it, again it is #etasummit)
the promised promotional video for the event never materialised
Summit Facebook page is a re-broadcast of the @damiancook twitter feed
YouTube Channel has little activity (2 uploads)
The last post on the conference organisation's blog was in December 2009
and the structure of the programme looks as though the sessions will be very old-school powerpoint lecture theatre style

But let me not pre-judge things -- I've met Damian, he's well regarded and has a lot of experience doing this, so I hope to be pleasantly surprised next week.

One of the models I'll be looking to for excellent conferences includes the one that Planeta.com's Ron Mader held in Portland, OR (USA) back in September on Marketing Indigenous Tourism using Web 2.0, and I'll draw inspiration from The Future of Conferences.

If you have questions you have or that you'd like me to ask during a particular session, let me know in a comment to this post, via Twitter, or in an e-mail. And if you'll also be attending, let me know, particularly if you're tweeting / blogging as well so I can cross-reference your content too. Oh yeah, we could also meet face-to-face -- how quaint!

Cape Town tours by bicycle push upmarket

2010-10-06T06:14:00.000+02:00

I've long been a fan of cycling as an alternative way to visit Cape Town's communities, particularly the so-called 'township' of Masiphumelele, offered by AWOL Tours and the Bicycle Empowerment Network (BEN). The range of cycling options for tourists has grown nicely over the past year for casual cyclists and more serious enthusiasts.

ByBike offers all-day rentals of bicycles and helmets from locations along the Southern Line train, which runs from the central Cape Town Station along the False Bay coastline to Simon's Town. The Southern Line train ticket is hop-on, hop-off, so you can get on the the train in the centre of Cape Town, hop off in Observatory, rent a bike and pedal around the shops and parks in Obs, get back on the train and get off at Muizenberg for a surf or coffee or pedal over to the False Bay Ecology Park (Rondevlei Nature Reserve), or visit Kalk Bay or go all the way to Simon's Town and pedal to see the penguins at Boulders Beach (or carry on to Cape Point and back). R120 for an all-day rental is a bargain. I love it, and hope they thrive. Be sure to check out their blog for descriptions of the rental locations and updates on specials and activities they're involved with.

For the more serious cycling enthusiast, Newmark Hotels has partnered with John O'Connor Cycles to provide high-end road bikes for a set of day tour itineraries around the city, down to Cape Point, and further afield into the Winelands. Not having to pack your bicycle will be a welcome relief for many cyclists who would love to get in a good ride while they're on holiday, combining their love of the bike with the experiences on offer in Cape Town. Newmark Hotels run the V&A Hotel, the Ambassador and other higher-end places as well as a couple of swank restaurants. The quality is very good as are their locations, and it seems to me that they've created an offering with a lot of appeal. A 4-hour guided tour of the city centre is R600, and they have shorter and longer itineraries that more or less scale up and down in cost from that.

There are other cycling opportunities, from the annual Cycle Tour (the world's largest timed cycling event!) in March, to the Cape Epic multi-stage mountain biking race, to mountain biking tours and rentals, to affordable casual cycling as part of more traditional Cape Town area tours, to more customised excursions with top-flight cyclists and more.

With an increase in dedicated cycle lanes in Cape Town and plans on the books for many more, the cycling options in the Mother City should only continue to expand and diversify.

[Photos: BEN Bikes, ByBike, Newmark Hotels]