tourism

Homegrown in the Cape Winelands, a campaign to boost tourism in the wine-producing region, aims to get visitors to stay longer and spend more by involving local communities and real-life tourism ambassadors.

Cape Town has added to its growing collection of international tourism accolades, being voted the best foreign city in the UK's 2004 Telegraph Travel Awards, and the best city in the world for eating out in - and the second best destination overall - in a recent poll of British Airways staff.

It's official: South Africa's booming tourism sector brings more dollars into the country than gold. The yellow metal was once the bedrock of the country's economy, but recent research shows that times have changed.

Thinking of visiting South Africa? Want information on how to get here, what to bring, where to stay, what to see ...? A one-stop call centre is here to assist you in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Mandarin or Portuguese.

Tourism isn't only for overseas visitors: take a Sho't Left and start finding out how much of your country you don't know - and how getting there could be easier than you thought.

The Cape Town Pass, a tourism card that gives the holder free entry to over 50 of the city's unique attractions and activities, as well as special offers and discounts on some of the best that Cape Town has to offer, is now on sale.

Industry-specific empowerment charters have been developed for South Africa's mining, information and communications technology, and financial services sectors, while work is under way on charters for agriculture, transport, construction, health, cosmetics, tourism and the wine industry.

Peter Matkovich is a professional golfer of 25 years and one of South Africa's top golf course designers, having worked on 16 of the top 100 courses in the country. When it comes to golf tourism, Matkovich believes that SA is one of the fastest growing destinations in the world - and that its full potential hasn't even begun to be tapped yet.

Mpumalanga's R320-million Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA) is preparing to launch its first international flights, a year after being awarded its international licence.

The first International Whale Watching Workshop, taking place in Cape Town this week, will bring scientists and managers from around the world together to develop a framework for the sustainable management of whale watching globally.