Travelwires.com

Durban – South African tourist operators are about to receive a huge boost with the launch, at Indaba 2008, of a Self Provisioning Platform called freeSATsite, which will enable them to create and manage their own websites.

Durban – This year’s Tourism Indaba would probably be the most important yet, chief executive of tourism KwaZulu-Natal (TKZN) Ndabo Khoza, said this week during the build up to South Africa’s largest and most important tourism marketing event.

Durban – Indaba, Africa’s Top Travel Show, makes history this year by introducing “green” practices that will encompass everything from water saving to waste-sorting stations at Durban’s International Convention Centre (ICC), where the event takes place on May 10 to 13, 2008.

Johannesburg – Nationwide Airline has ceased operations until further notice, the airline announced on Tuesday. “Our cash flow has become critical and as a result have decided to voluntarily cease all flight operations until further notice,” said CE Vernon Bricknell.

Jaipur – Skin colour matters as far as visitors to India are concerned, says a fourth generation South African Indian who claims to have faced “racial discrimination” himself, particularly in the country’s northern parts.

Cape Town – Following the announcement of the latest credit card skimming related arrests, indicating yet another peak in credit card fraud, Chairman of FEDHASA Cape, Nils Heckscher, has called on FEDHASA members, and restaurant owners in particular, to take all the necessary precautions to prevent credit card fraud. 

Durban – The South African Tourism Online Marketing Educational Seminar has this year added two workshops, Google University (Google’s educational programme for Google Adwords) and SAT FREESITE, to the arsenal of online tools small businesses operating in the tourism industry can use to grow their bottom line.

Johannesburg – Industrial group Imperial Holdings on Thursday said it had received a formal offer of R2.08 per share for its tourism services group Tourvest, valuing the company at R1.7 billion.

Cape Town – The Townhouse Hotel is developing a new state-of-the-art conference centre set to open in November. Located at street level in Cape Town’s vibrant central business district, the venue’s prime location and generous size is expected to see it enjoy outstanding success. The hotel has been re-branded the Townhouse Hotel & Conference Centre. [...]

Cape Town – Tokyo Sexwale’s empowerment group Mvelaphanda Group has grabbed a major slice of Queensgate, a specialist leisure company that operates a number of upmarket hotels around Cape Town, in a deal worth R110 million.