Cape Town received wonderful coverage in a three-part article in the UK The Guardian on Saturday, praising in particular the beauty of the city, and the gourmet and wine wealth of the near-by towns in the Winelands, which should be good for attracting visitors from the UK to our city, given the weaker Rand.
The writer of the trio of articles is Gloria Hunniford, a highly regarded mature Northern Ireland radio and TV presenter, writer (including ‘Gloria Hunniford’s Family Cookbook’,) a travel writer for The Guardian and The Telegraph, and presenter of travel guides for National Geographic. In the fineprint it is clear that the articles were sponsored by SA Tourism.
Gloria reports about her first ever visit to Cape Town, a city that she says she has never heard a bad word spoken about, and about which she had heard ‘glorious stories about the weather, the food, the wine, the people and, of course, Table Mountain’. Worried that her high expectations could be disappointed, she writes that ‘it is more beautiful, more dramatic, and more extraordinary than anything I had imagined’. She writes that she was at a loss of words on top of Table Mountain, and fell in love with a dassie.
During her visit to the Cape, Gloria saw the Twelve Apostles, Cape Point, Lion’s Head, the city centre, the floral diversity of 2000 species on Table Mountain, Chapman’s Peak (exhilaratingly experienced on the back of a Harley Davidson), and stayed at the Camps Bay Retreat. She enjoyed the Camps Bay restaurants and its strip and beach, about which she wrote: “…you would be forgiven for thinking you were on a remote, palm-fringed island, not in South Africa’s second most populous city“! She refers to Cape Town being ranked second in the Lonely Planet’s world 10 best beach cities (after Barcelona and ahead of Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, and Miami), an accolade for Cape Town I had not heard about nor seen publicised by our tourism authorities. She mentions the surfing beaches of False Bay, the ‘remote beaches’ of the South Peninsula, ‘fashionable Clifton’, and the ‘sundowner-haven of Llandudno’. She was taken to Bo-Kaap, to eat Cape Malay food at the home of Zainie. She also ate at the Cape Grace, and was served fresh fish in Camps Bay. She highlights Kirstenbosch as the perfect picnic venue, having recently been named by National Geographic as one of the top 10 places in the world to have a picnic.
In the Winelands, Gloria visited L’Omarins in Franschhoek, enjoying its Cape Dutch architecture, flower paradise, and a wine-tasting. Gloria saw a chocolate-making demonstration at Huguenot Fine Chocolates, raving generally about Franschhoek, with its ‘atmospheric shops and sampling the great food and wine on offer is a must for every visitor’s itinerary‘. She had lunch at Delaire Graff, praising it highly for its setting in the Helshoogte Pass: ‘It’s sheer bliss. To be embraced by the sheer luxury of this elegant, beautiful crafted estate, sipping on fabulous wine and indulging in the tastiest food around, is what dream holidays are made off (sic).” Then she tastes wines at Spier, calling it one of ‘South Africa’s oldest, biggest and most tourist friendly estates’, and its wines as being affordably priced and winning awards. A highlight for Gloria was stroking Hemingway, the cheetah, at Spier. She enjoyed her gourmet picnic at Warwick, writing about it: ‘Our picnic basket is filled to the brim with delicious salads, cold meats, bread, smoked salmon, and sweet treats, a far cry from the picnics I am used to…. It introduced us to more South African culinary treats, from snoek pate to biltong’.
Despite being sponsored articles, it is Gloria’s concluding paragraph that is sure to connect with potential visitors to our city, and her valuable endorsement should be of benefit to tourism to Cape Town and the Winelands: “The last few days have been happy, happy days, thanks in no small part to the people of South Africa who have been so open and friendly and made us feel so welcome. It is the people of a country who can really make an experience memorable. They are so proud of their country and it is this enthusiasm and South Africa’s sheer beauty that I will take away with me”.
POSTSCRIPT 25/10: Today Cape Town and the Winelands received further favourable coverage, this time in the Mail Online, in an interview with Suzi Perry, BBC motor sports correspondent and presenter of the Channel 5 ‘The Gadget Show’. She described her honeymoon in South Africa last year as her ‘most memorable holiday’, having stayed in Camps Bay (staying at Cape View Villa), went on Safari at Richard Branson’s lodge Ulusaba in Sabi Sands, and went winetasting in Franschhoek, staying at Rickety Bridge. She loved going up Table Mountain, recommending abseiling down it, hiked up Lion’s Head at full moon, raved about the vineyard picnics, she saw whales in Hermanus, and ‘baboons on the cape (sic)’.
POSTSCRIPT 27/10: Cape Town has been selected as runner-up as ‘Favorite City World-wide’ in the Telegraph Travel Awards announced yesterday, won by New York, and alongside Venice. La Residence in Franschhoek was a runner-up with Shangri La’s Barr Al Jissah in Oman for ‘Favorite Hotel World-Wide’, a category won by Villa d’Este at Lake Como in Italy.
POSTSCRIPT 27/10: Cape Town is basking in the spotlight, and now the New York Times has written an article “36 hours in Cape Town’, published on-line today, and to appear in print on Sunday. It opens as follows: “Cape Town overwhelms the senses. Its cultivated side, the bright lights and big buildings of the city centre, collides with its geography – the dazzle and danger of the wind-whipped mountains and the two oceans that embrace it.” Writer Elaine Sciolino writes that prices soared in the city during the World Cup, and that the ‘tourist trade since then has disappointed‘, that some businesses have closed down, and some constructions sites stand unfinished. ‘Despite the grinding poverty in the townships on the city’s outskirts, this is one of the most naturally beautiful places in the world’, she writes. Sciolino’s 36 hours in Cape Town were action-packed, and included a visit to the District Six Museum, the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, Table Mountain (stating that it is to Cape Town what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, defining and dominating the ‘cityscape’), dinner at Marco’s African Place, followed by drinks at Café Caprice and clubbing at St Yves in Camps Bay, which has just re-opened. On Saturday it’s an ostrich burger for brunch at the Biscuit Mill, shopping at Greenmarket Square, and then off to ‘wine sipping’ at Groot Constantia, eating sushi at Sevruga in the V&A Waterfront, and then to Asoka on Kloof Street for cocktails, followed by Fiction DJ Bar and Zula Sound Bar. On Sunday morning it’s a drive to Cape Point (Cape of Good Hope), stopping at Simonstown and Boulders’ Beach on the way, returning via Chapman’s Peak. The article links to a travel guide, with accommodation (Mount Nelson and V&A Hotels strongly recommended) and restaurants (Africa Café recommended of all the 27 restaurants listed, but sadly out of date, with Jardine still listed) recommended.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage
Hi Chris,
The article states “She writes that she was at a loss of words on top of Table Mountain,”. Mmm, Gloria has never been at a loss of words in her life, so I take this statement with a pinch of salt!!
Moving on, SA Tourism has chosen an odd vehicle in which to promote their product. I doubt that the Guardian ever sells more than a few thousand copies & therefore this positive message will have gone out to a very small audience.
Also, as the readership are mainly tree huggers, concerns about the size of their carbon footprint would preclude their ever flying as far as Cape Town!!!
Thanks for your feedback Nick. Please don’t dash our hopes. We need all the good coverage we can get!
The readership of The Guardian at about 1 million per month isn’t too shabby.
I had never heard of Gloria Hunniford before. One hopes that she still has credibility. I wonder if she wrote the copy – the reference to ‘South Peninsula’ was a dead give-away – no Capetonian refers to the area from Simonstown – Cape Point by that descriptor – only Cape Town Tourism and the municipality do!
Chris
No worries Chris, my comments are very much tongue in cheek. 😉
GH used to be all over the airways a few years ago. Now she’s reduced to writing for the Guardian. 🙁
The Guardian readership averages out at 30,000 a day…………not too impressive. Most of them work for the BBC!!
Still need to understand British humour!
Thanks Nick for your regular contribution from our land of tourism hope!
Chris
The readership of the Guardian is over one million per day and 62% of those readers are social class AB (managerial and professional) – possibly the type of reader who is likely to travel long haul to SA
Dear Brandon
The readership figures I saw for about 2 months ago was 1 million per month, and not per day.
Chris
It is a daily figure
Check the Newspaper Marketing Agency’s website – http://www.nmauk.co.uk/nma/do/live/factsAndFigures?newspaperID=12
I would say that it is ‘ better to have been featured than not to have been featured”. Which is the lesser of the two evils – getting to readers no matter the daily/weekly numbers, or not getting out to the readers at all? I realise that one would like to penetrate the market that would yield the greatest result, but I am grateful that she came and she wrote.
BTW – while flicking through the TV channels the other night, I stumbled upon a travel feature ( around food) that featured Cape Town. It was about 15mins, but Cape Town and the Bo-Kaap food were being highlighted.
More of those please.
Absolutely agree with you Rose, on both comments.
Chris
Thanks Brandon.
Chris
Great wordpress weblog here.. It’s difficult to locate high quality writing like yours today. I actually appreciate people like you! take care
Thank you Carleen.
Chris
Gloria must have been paid by SA tourist board. She has obviously never been to Rio de Janeiro where she would truly be spell bound by its beauty. Cape Town was disappointing and Table Mountain is a most unattractive big flat rock, Sorry but I was underwhelmed. Also need to upgrade airport,as Cape Town’s would not be fit for purpose if it was in USA.
Have to agree with Shelley. Went to Durban, a bit like Blackpool but warmer of course.
Once you’ve seen one lion you’ve seen them all.
Much rather look at African wildlife from the luxury of Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney Florida where you can see all the animals in safety and without getting bitten by bugs plus with a glass of wine in your hand.
Of course SA has some scenic parts but it has miles and miles of barren nothingness too.It is so dangerous that walking anywhere is taking a big risk.
The coastal part of the Garden Route is just like north Cornwall.
I think you get my drift.