TU News : 29 Beaches awarded Blue Flag status

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29 Beaches awarded Blue Flag status

National Marine Month in October 2009 came to an end on a high note when the new season of Blue Flag South Africa was launched at Muizenberg beach yesterday with the announcement that 29 beaches had been certified prior to the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

 

Speaking at the launch, Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, said the increase of Blue Flag beaches from 19 last year to 29 this year was extremely good for tourism in South Africa. "In order for South Africa to optimise its tourism potential, it is critical that we offer both domestic and international visitors clean, safe and well-managed beaches."

 

"The main catalyst for the increase in the number of Blue Flag beaches has been the opportunities that have arisen as a result of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Municipalities participating in the programme have seen the benefits of having Blue Flag beaches and wish to be in a position to offer and promote their Blue Flag beaches to 2010 visitors and those who plan to return to South Africa in the future. Six new municipalities joined the programme this year and all existing municipalities have added additional beaches to their suite of Blue Flag beaches," the Minister said.

 

"The success of the Blue Flag programme in South Africa can be attributed to the commitment of participating municipalities to provide beach-goers and holiday-makers with world-class beaches offering safe, clean and well-managed facilities," says Alison Kelly, the Blue Flag Programme Manager. "At a time in our country when there is great concern about service delivery at local authority level, these municipalities managing Blue Flag beaches are showing that high levels of excellence and delivery of services to benefit both local and international visitors are possible."

 

Research has shown that the commitment of municipalities to Blue Flag makes sound economic sense within tourism, e.g. research on Margate beach indicating that the value of Blue Flag status at the beach could generate income amounting to tens of millions of rands per annum.

 

Minister van Schalkwyk said research feedback had shown that both international and domestic tourists valued the quality assurances that Blue Flag beaches offered. "With a 23-year history of implementation in Europe, international visitors to South Africa are familiar with the Blue Flag brand. 

 

South Africa was the first country outside of Europe to implement the Blue Flag programme and since 2001,  the programme has become a truly global initiative with 38 countries participating and a further seven countries undertaking the feasibility stage.  

 

The South African beaches that have received Blue Flag accreditation are:

 

. MacDougall's Bay, Port Nolloth (new)  
. Yzerfontein Main beach, Yzerfontein (new) 
. Big Bay beach, Bloubergstrand Cape Town (new)
. Clifton 5th beach, Cape Town 
. Camps Bay, Cape Town    
. Muizenberg, Cape Town    
. Strandfontein beach, Cape Town  
. Mnandi beach, Cape Town    
. Bikini beach, Gordon's Bay   
. Kleinmond beach, near Hermanus  (back in programme)  
. Hawston beach, near Hermanus   
. Grotto beach, Hermanus    
. Lappiesbaai, Stilbaai, Southern Cape  
. Santos beach, Mossel Bay  (new)  
. Hartenbos beach, Mossel Bay (new) 
. Robberg 5 beach, Plettenberg Bay (new) 
. Dolphin beach, Jeffrey's Bay  
. Humewood beach, Port Elizabeth 
. Hobie beach, Port Elizabeth  
. Wells Estate, north of Port Elizabeth  
. Kelly's beach, Port Alfred    
. Kariega Main beach, Kenton-on-Sea (new) 
. Boknes beach, Kenton-On-Sea   (new)
. Gonubie beach, East London (back in programme)
. Trafalgar beach, south coast KZN (new)
. Marina beach, south coast KZN  
. Ramsgate beach, near Margate  
. Margate beach     
. Alkantstrand, Richards Bay (new)

Click here for more news :www.tourismupate.co.za

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TU News : March launch for V Australia

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March launch for V Australia

Virgin Australia is to launch its twice weekly operations between Melbourne and Johannesburg on March 13, 2010.

 

According to Gordon Young, Virgin Blue Airlines manager: offline sales and interline, the three-class (economy, premium economy and business) service will run on Tuesdays and Sundays.

 

Young confirms that "very competitive" fares for the route will be launched on

Wednesday, October 28.

Click here for more news :www.tourismupate.co.za

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This service is provided by Tourism Update, an online tourism product, news and destination platform for overseas and local trade packaging Southern Africa.
Should you wish to register for free access to this site, please visit www.tourismupdate.co.za and click on the 'Register' link. Your registration will be processed within one day.

Contact editor@tourismupdate.co.za for further details.

TU News : LAM to introduce Johannesburg/Luanda flights

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LAM to introduce Johannesburg/Luanda flights

FROM November 16, LAM Mozambique Airlines will commence flights from Johannesburg to Luanda, Angola, via Maputo.

 

The service will operate from Monday to Friday, departing Johannesburg at 08h40 and arriving in Maputo at 09h40. It will then depart Maputo at 11h00, arriving in Luanda at 13h40.

 

The return service will depart Luanda at 14h40, arriving in Maputo at 19h10. It will then depart Maputo at 07h00 the following morning, arriving in Johannesburg at 08h00.

 

Click here for more news :www.tourismupate.co.za

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Should you wish to register for free access to this site, please visit www.tourismupdate.co.za and click on the 'Register' link. Your registration will be processed within one day.

Contact editor@tourismupdate.co.za for further details.

News from Bulungula

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Community celebration for the launch of the Jujurha ELC Jujurha video completed Urgent appeal: addressing the water crisis The No-ofisi hall – near completion News from the classroom Home grown delights The Jujurha library Visitors from Cedar House Expanding our sustainable livelihoods programme Toilets to write home about

Community celebration for the launch of the Jujurha ELC. On the 22 September we officially celebrated the opening of the Jujurha Early Learning Centre. The centre had been operating from the new premises for 2 months and so the classrooms were beautifully adorned with the children's work. Read more Jujurha video completed Many thanks to Carlos Francisco of AHB Films for producing this inspiring clip, created to celebrate the launch of the Jujurha Early Learning Centre. It shows a day in the life of the school and includes interviews with Annette Champion and Sonja Giese. Click here to view Urgent appeal: addressing the water crisis Everyone has the right to water. For most of us reading this newsletter, this right is one which we take for granted. For many South Africans however, especially in remote rural areas, the right to a reliable and clean water supply remains unrealised. Read more The No-ofisi hall – near completion After months of hard work, the beautiful hall at No-ofisi primary school is finally nearing completion. The building team have laid a concrete floor, hung doors and lime plastered the walls.This monumental structure will not only provide much needed additional classroom space and a community meeting place, it will also enable us to capture large quantities of rain water from the roof! Read more News from the classroom There was great excitement when the Grade R children spread icing on biscuits recently. They enjoyed the mixing and colouring of the icing and took the greatest care to spread it and then decorate each biscuit with the pretty 'sprinkles'. Read more Home grown delights We have also made progress with the establishment of our ELC vegetable and fruit garden. The garden has been terraced using stones, collected by hand, and wooden poles left over from the building of the classrooms. So far, we've managed to plant a selection of fruit and nut trees and a variety of veggies. Young shoots are now visible for carrots, butternut, beetroot, spinach and tomatoes. And the banana trees have taken root beautifully. Read more The Jujurha library With the generous support of the Raith Foundation, the Jujurha Early Learning Centre has just completed the building of a beautiful library. A wonderful space! We have BIG plans for this wonderful resource. Library activities will be built into the weekly routine for the 3 classes at the Early Learning Centre, and we will be using the library during our after-school tutoring programme for children from the local primary school. Read more Visitors from Cedar House The BI has had a long standing partnership with Cedar House – a school in Cape Town. This partnership includes a scholarship for a child from our village (she has just completed her first year at the school and is flourishing!) and an annual visit by learners, to help out for a few days on one of our projects. This year the timing was perfect and the learners arrived a week before the launch of our Early Learning Centre. Read more Expanding our sustainable livelihoods programme The BI recently added an additional income generating project to our 'sustainable livelihoods' portfolio. It is one of ten new income generating projects that we will be piloting (and documenting) over the next 3 years, with the support of Old Mutual. The ten ideas were informed by research conducted in the village in 2008. The latest addition is a sewing project –which currently provides an income to 5 families in Nqileni. Read more Toilets to write home about We recently welcomed the arrival of our long-awaited toilets at the Early Learning Centre! After much deliberation we decided to go with Ecosan toilets – this magical invention comes as a ready made unit which is easy to install, and it converts waste into compost. Read more

P.S. Apologies to anyone who receives this email and doesn't know who or what Bulungula is.... this was sent to everyone in our address book, so it's possible you got this in error. Subscribe: If you have been forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive your own copy in future, please click here to subscribe. Unsubscribe: To be removed from our database, please click here to unsubscribe.

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Choo Tjoe

The Outeniqua Choo Tjoe, the Garden Route's iconic steam train, will return to service on October 19.
 
"The service was suspended for a while for necessary maintenance, but the Western Cape's Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Alan Winde, and about 60 invited guests will commemorate its return with a ride from George to Mossel Bay, where they'll enjoy refreshments as the guest of our Mayor, Alderlady Marie Ferreira," said Mossel Bay Tourism's Marcia Holm.
 
Holm said some "unfortunate" uncertainty had arisen during the maintenance period, but that she was delighted the service would be resumed in time for the coming summer holidays.
 
"We're not yet sure what the timetable will be, but we hope that the Choo Tjoe will again run three times a week in the quieter periods, and once a day in season.
 
"This will have to be confirmed by Transnet, and we will communicate with the tourism industry as soon as we have the final programme," she said.
 
According to Neels Zietzman, chairman of Mossel Bay Tourism, the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe suffered a serious set-back when floods damaged the George-Knysna line a few years back.
 
"Fortunately, though, and at the suggestion of Mossel Bay Tourism, the train was re-routed to the George-Mossel Bay line, and was thus preserved as a tourism attraction for the country as a whole.
 
"In the process, Mossel Bay Tourism paid for the construction of platforms at the Dias Museum, and, with the train ride starting and ending at the Transport Museum in George, began marketing the unique Museum-to-Museum Tour."
 
Members of the public wishing to travel on the train on October 19 will be able to buy one-way tickets from Mossel Bay to George in the usual way.
 
The train's timetable will be published on www.visitmosselbay.co.za as soon as it becomes available.
 
Photo sourced from: SA Tourism

 

 

 

Jeanette Phillips