Dear Jeanne

Welcome to the first of a series of monthly newsletters.

Our newsletter helps your business keep track of the latest tourist trends, statistics and developments on the local as well as international tourism front.

We acknowledge the competitiveness of the tourist market and therefore have also included web marketing strategies designed to attract more visitors to your website.

We look forward to providing you with information that is current, relevant and helpful to your specific industry.

We wish you absolute success in all that you do!

Kind regards
Jeanne Malherbe

It is hugely encouraging that government has identified tourism as one of the sectors in the economy that has the highest potential for growth and has, officially and formally, recognised tourism for the substantial contribution it makes to socio-economic development; to creating jobs; and to growing the economy for the benefit of all South Africans.

The South African wine industry does not necessarily begin and end with what's in the bottle. A myriad of associated revenue spinners has emerged, most significantly in the tourism sector. Wine tourism is not only a vital promotional tool for the wine industry as a whole, but it is making a considerable financial contribution of its own. The potential is unlimited, but it's going to require some serious teamwork to make the most of these opportunities. This was the message at the recent Best of Wine Tourism Awards held at Waterford Estate in Stellenbosch recently.

BRITISH Airways (BA) is putting pressure on the South African government, tourism and football authorities to address plans around air access ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

With hundreds of thousands of soccer fans scheduled to visit SA to watch the soccer, BA has called for "political will" to ensure there was sufficient air access during the games.

Southern Africa is developing a joint strategy to improve infrastructure ahead of the soccer World Cup to be hosted by South Africa in 2010.

The strategy, known as the Trans-Frontier Conservation Areas 2010 Soccer World Cup Strategy, will be used to develop and market various trans-frontier parks and trans-frontier conservation areas in southern Africa as premier tourist destinations for the region.

Looks to cash in on the growing Indian tourists to the African nation.

The Indian Hotels Company (IHC), which operates under the Taj brand, is showing interests in South Africa, which has been witnessing increased inflow of Indian tourists.

“IHC is in negotiations with the Kwazulu-Natal provincial government to have a presence in the province. The hotel could attract Indian tourists by setting up a shop here. The local population is a mix of English, Indian and South Africans,” said James Seymour, general manager, tourism information services of Kwazulu Natal province.

South Africa is one of the most diverse and enchanting countries in the world. As a holiday destination it has it all – an exotic combination of landscapes, people, history, wildlife and culture – making it increasingly popular. Even over recent years, which have been amongst the most difficult ever experienced in world tourism, South Africa's international arrivals have continued to grow.

Over the past decade, tourism's contribution to the country's economy has almost doubled, eclipsing gold as an earner of foreign exchange, and with a predictable knock-on impact on hotel performance.

Q2 2005 National tourism performance at a glance
Number of international arrivals in Q2 2005	1,616,027
Number of international arrivals in Q2 2004	1,511,272
Q2 2004/2005 growth in international arrivals	6.93%
Total spend from international visitors in Q2 2005	R10.2b
Total spend from international visitors in Q2 2004	R8.4b
Q2 2004 / 2005 growth in spend from international visitors	21.4%
Total number of bednights spent by international visitors in Q2 2004	12,360,621
Total number of bednights spent by international visitors in Q2 2005	13,163,252
Q2 2004 / 2005 growth in number of bednights spend by international visitors	-5.95%
Average length of stay of international visitors in Q2 2004	8 nights
Average length of stay of international visitors in Q2 2005	8 nights
Q2 2005 National Domestic Tourism at a glance
Total number of domestic trips	8.7 million
Total Foreign Direct Spend	R2.93b
Average length of stay of domestic tourists	3.8 nights
Total number of domestic bednights	33.64 million