Hotel and restaurant news

Travellers concerned with the treatment of the natural environment are a fast-growing market according to experts in environmental tourism.

The environmentally-aware traveller represents one of the fastest growing niche markets in the tourism, travel and leisure sectors today and this discerning market is set to become one of the key income generators in global tourism over the next decade says Thomas Roth, president of US CMIGreen Community Marketing Inc. and speaker at the EMiT conference in November. “For the southern African travel industry, this global trend presents an opportunity for sustainable growth, but this will require tourism professionals to … Read the rest

Where? Ouro Preto, about 210 miles north of Rio de Janeiro and 97 miles southeast of Belo Horizonte.

Why? This is where you'll see some of the best examples of baroque architecture in Brazil. It's also the best place to see the work of legendary Brazilian artist Aleijadinho.

The surrounding mountains, the geometric rows of whitewashed buildings, the cobblestone streets and red-tile roofs that climb the hillsides, and the morning mist and evening fog give the town an evocative, pastoral air.

Tasty treat: Queijo do minas, a mild, soft, white cheese often served with fruit or fruit jam.

Top … Read the rest

South African Tourism’s (SAT) Touch Table, a first in interactive travel and tourism trade communication, has won two awards at the 33rd annual Loerie Awards - a Silver Loerie in the category of ‘Internet, Mobile and Interactive Communication: Applications and Interactive Tools’ and a Loerie Craft Certificate in the category of ‘Internet, Mobile and Interactive Communication: Digital Crafts’.

The Touch Table offers eight interactive hubs, allowing eight people to use it simultaneously. Using touch screen technology, users are able to search the National Tourism Database, browse numerous leisure experiences offered in South Africa, search the destination by province, send … Read the rest

A new warning has been issued about the possibility of more job losses in the hotel industry.
This time it comes from Marius Earle, the group operations director of Three Cities Hospitality which manages and markets hotels all over Southern Africa Africa.
He says: “Hospitality groups will have to employ methods to streamline operations due to the current financial strain and uncertainty facing many establishments in the industry.”
Expanding on a rather solemn opinion regarding the current state of the South African tourism industry, he says that the issue should not be “sugar-coated.”
Although there appears to be a … Read the rest

Backpacks, back pockets, and open purses are easy targets for pick-pockets. Keeping your passport and funds secure in a money belt may save your vacation from an unfortunate run-in with a talented thief, but the traditional rogue-blocker is not your only option. Travelers posting in our Forums recently sounded off on the value of money belts, the alternatives that have worked for them, and their strategies for avoiding one of travel's oldest pitfalls.

Talk travel: Do you use a money belt when you travel?

The Security Standard: Money Belts

"I use a "traditional" money belt. I wear it with … Read the rest

Theatre

London Road, National Theatre: Olivier, South Bank, SE1, to 6 Sep, nationaltheatre.org.uk Return of Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork's hugely original musical play set around the real murder of five prostitutes in Ipswich.

The Bruce Lacey Experience, Camden Arts Centre, NW3, to 16 Sep, camdenartscentre.org The eccentric artist and Goon Show veteran – whose robotic sculptures were a 1960s fixture – is ripe for rediscovery.

Create 2012: David Bailey's East End, Compressor House, Royal Docks, E16, to 5 Aug, createlondon.org London's East End captured in all its vivid multicultural glory from the 1960s to today by the legendary … Read the rest

Having undergone extensive refurbishment, Franschhoek’s Haute Cabriere Cellar Restaurant has re-opened this weekend under management of the von Arnim family with new head chef Ryan Shell at the helm.

Shell, who is 28, has taken over in time for the spring and summer season at the beginning of September. Having completed his final term as a lecturer at the Prue Leith Chef’s Academy, Ryan has relocated to the Cape winelands where he will get stuck into reworking the menus at the Franschhoek restaurant.

No stranger to this corner of the Cape, some of Shell’ss formative chef years were spent … Read the rest

Four young KwaZulu-Natal entrepreneurs will earn a healthy boost for their businesses soon thanks to the South African Breweries Limited (SAB) KickStart Entrepreneurial Development Programme.
About R380 000 in grants, mentorship and training is up for grabs in the KZN contest. Nationally the amount tops the R3-million mark. More than 1 500 entries have been received from candidates throughout the country.
Thirteen finalists have been chosen in KZN and they recently completed a business skills training course funded by SAB.
A panel of six judges, all captains of industry in Durban, have scrutinised the business plans and interviewed each … Read the rest

Behind Foster & Partners' glossy offices on the banks of the Thames, a creative community has quietly taken over the warehouses between Battersea Bridge and Albert Bridge. To find the studios where fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and architect Will Alsop are based, you have to go down a dark alley and through a car park, guided by a neon sign cryptically proclaiming Testbed1. This former Victorian dairy and tile emporium was painted white and turned into The Doodle Bar – a blank canvas where patrons could scribble and sketch over every surface. On the hidden terrace overlooking Ransome's Dock, … Read the rest

1936, Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler's Wells, EC1, to 5 Aug, sadlerswells.com Tom McNab's play asks whether a boycott of the Berlin games of 1936 might have changed the course of history.

Edvard Munch, Tate Modern, South Bank, SE1, to 14 Oct, tate.org.uk Munch's mobid maidens, vampire lovers and screams of despair are ghoulishly compelling.

Pertaining To Things Natural, Chelsea Physic Garden, SW3, to 31 Oct, chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk The jaws of a digger, bright metal abstractions and a mechanical book are some of the new sculpture commissions to be found amid the garden's greenhouses, exotic specimens and butterflies.

Tom Thum: Beating … Read the rest

Everything about today fills me with a sense of dread. I am a poor swimmer, I have no upper body strength and I am afraid of heights. Yet here I am, sitting in a car park in Beadnell bay waiting for Kevin Anderson. He's going to teach me how to kitesurf.

I've only seen kitesurfing once. It was in Brighton and a muscular James Bond type was skimming through choppy waters, bouncing off the crests and being lifted to almost impossible heights. At one point, he went over the pier. I recall screaming as he did it. And here … Read the rest

The Don Group Limited, a company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, said in a statement released on 6 October 2011 that due to the depressed economic conditions and plummeting profits, it had turned three hotels into residences and had to retrench a number of staff. The report follows:

“Trading conditions in the hotel and leisure industry have been depressed in the last two years. The 2010 Soccer World Cup (SWC), which had a welcome positive impact on the industry, did not however, attain the levels expected. Instead of seeing an influx of visitors post the SWC, a sudden … Read the rest

Cambridgeshire

From punting on the river, exploring the grand university colleges and picnicking in the parks to dancing to live music at night, Cambridge gets a first for its attractions. This summer, there's a Sculpture Promenade and Han China exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum (fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk) and sports-related exhibitions and events at the Cambridge and County Folk Museum (folkmuseum.org.uk).

The new Varsity Hotel (01223 306030, thevarsityhotel.co.uk, doubles from ?165) has a rooftop terrace with a cinema, a spa, and rooms with four-posters and Union Jack pouffes.
• 45mins to London's King's Cross station, or to Stratford for the Olympic Park … Read the rest

Set to open in November the Park Inn by Radisson Cape Town Foreshore will be the second Park Inn by Radisson to open in South Africa.
While some will say that Cape Town needs another hotel like a fish needs a bicycle, the developers believe the position, accessibility, branding and target market of the hotel will ensure success.
Andrew McLachlan, the Rezidor hotel group’s vice-president, business development, Africa and Indian Ocean Islands, believes the Park Inn Cape Town Foreshore is a needed accommodation offering for the City of Cape Town and that the mid-market traveller segment that the brand … Read the rest

by Michelle Delio

Want to meet the muses? Or perhaps you'd rather crack codes, act like a kid, travel back in time, have a serious adult conversation, solve a mystery, or learn to fly on a broomstick?

If your answer to any or all of the above is yes, take a literary tour and live inside your favorite book for a while. There are plenty of tours to choose from: serious scholarly tours and wonderfully silly ones, multi-week adventures and brief jaunts. No matter which you choose, you'll get to feed your brain while having fun.

"I used to … Read the rest

Baking and craft workshops at Little Salkeld

The first thing children will notice about The Watermill at Little Salkeld are the candy-pink walls. The second might be the chickens foraging for spilt grain by the entrance to this restored working mill. Adults will be drawn by the smell of baking bread into the child-friendly cafe, which serves wholesome lunches made from the Watermill's own stoneground flours (also for sale in the shop).

See the mighty water wheel in action on a self-guided tour, or book in advance for one of the children's baking and craft workshops that take place … Read the rest

I'd start my perfect day with a bowl of muesli, eaten in my swimming costume, ready for a gentle swim at the Golden Lane leisure centre, a small, quiet pool near the Barbican . Next I'd walk up City Road to two art galleries: the Parasol Unit (parasol-unit.org) and Victoria Miro, (victoria-miro.com) both in beautifully converted old buildings on Wharf Road. I really like the architecture around here – the exterior of Trevor Horne Architects (trevorhorne.com) round the corner on Micawber Street is my idea of heaven in a building. With its huge gabled roof, this would be the … Read the rest

The recent deadly crash of a commercial airliner in Sao Paulo sent the already reeling Brazilian airline industry deeper into crisis. On Saturday, it received a further scare when a radar failure in the Amazon region caused some 20 international flights to be diverted back to the U.S. and elsewhere, stranding and delaying thousands.

Tuesday's TAM Airlines crash killed more than 190 people -- the deadliest in Brazil's history -- and came less than a year after 154 people died when a Gol Airlines flight collided mid-air with an executive jet and went down in the Amazon.

TAM and … Read the rest

South African Tourism (SAT), Sports and Recreation SA and Thebe Exhibitions & Project Group (TEPG) have announced that Durban has been awarded the hosting of the Sports and Events Tourism Exchange (SETE) in 2012.

“The city of Durban will be an excellent host for the Sports and Events Tourism Exchange. Durban recently hosted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session and in 2010 it was a host city during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It is strengthening its position as a world class sporting destination with the capability and capacity to bid for mega events in the future,” says Sugen … Read the rest

Between penny-pinching in a tight economy and airlines' new luggage restrictions, only so many treats for those at home are likely to make it back in your suitcase. But no need to nix the knickknacks-buying easy-to-pack gifts on the cheap in these top destination cities is surprisingly doable.

New York Best for Kids

Need to bring back a baby gift? A tiny, "I Love NY" onesie (about $10), available in white, pink, or blue at street corner souvenir shops all over the city, will stand out among the tot's collection. You can also find matchbox-style New York City cabs … Read the rest

Fodor's Copy Chief Linda Schmidt (along with husband and husky) spent much of August driving from New Jersey to Choteau, Montana, and back. Linda then returned to the Rocky Mountain Front for the month of November to work as the cook at the Seven Lazy P guest ranch outside of Choteau, on the eastern side of the Rockies about 80 miles northwest of Great Falls.

Why Choteau? The scenery and the people. Nothing puts your priorities in order like this landscape (you: small, earth: big). Western Montana looks like two planets: east of Choteau, plains stretch to the horizon; … Read the rest

The Cape Town and Western Cape Convention Bureau has once again received the international hallmark of excellence, following the annual BestCities external audit. An external audit of service standards is a requirement for certification as a member of the BestCities Global Alliance.
Martin Ledger, an auditor from Lloyd’s Registered Quality Assurance (LRQA), said in his assessment that: “The Cape Town Bureau meets the requirements of the BestCities Alliance. The 2011 theme topics were found compliant to the Quality Management System. It was evident from the sample of the bid files, that the system is meeting and surpassing the client’s … Read the rest

International tourist arrivals are estimated to have grown by 4,5% in the first half of 2011, consolidating the 6,6% increase registered in 2010. Between January and June of this year, the total number of arrivals reached 440-million, 19-million more than in the same period of 2010.

“The sustained growth registered in tourism demand in such challenging times clearly makes the case for the sector and reinforces our call to consider tourism as a priority in national policies. Tourism can play a key role in terms of economic growth and development, particularly at a moment when many economies, for the … Read the rest

The Greenhouse Restaurant at The Cellars-Hohenort Hotel in Constantia was the venue yesterday for a lunch where group executive chef Peter Tempelhoff presented a range of dishes from his menus to a gathering of prominent foodwriters.
Liz McGrath, owner of The Collection by Liz McGrath, hosted the lunch with her granddaughter Marina Smithers, who is responsible for the group’s PR, and CEO Tony Romer-Lee on a day that showed off the hotel’s famous gardens in early spring sunshine.
Tempelhoff was on hand to explain the dishes which showcased seafood and his commitment to the use of sustainable products in … Read the rest