Dullstroom
Dunkeld
Country Estate, a leading venue in the Highlands Meander, opened in
December 2000 and received their five star grading from the South African
Grading Council during November 2001 which made them the first five star
lodge in the region.
The estate just received " Quality Assured - Superior Accommodation
" Status from AA Travel meaning that the establishment has exceeded
most of the prescribed criteria, and it falls within the top 30% of its
kind.
Dunkeld Country Estate was nominated as a finalist in the AA Accommodations
Awards Programme and the winners will be announced during a gala dinner
at the yearly Indaba Trade Show at the ICC in Durban on the 4th May 2003
he said that more then 400 guest reports were submitted by the guests.
As a result of this nomination, Dunkeld Country Estate also qualified
for the South Africa's Best publication, which will be available to the
public during the second half of this year.
In an interview with the Midveld News the Estate Manager, Mr Ignas Oberholzer,
said that it is a great honour to be nominated for the awards and he praised
all the staff of Dunkeld Country Estate for their contribution to the
team effort that leads the estate to the top. He said that teamwork is
the success recipe for ordinary people to obtain extra ordinary results.
He encourage all the venues in the Highlands Meander and more specifically
in Dullstroom to participate in the South Africa Grading Council's star
grading programme and stated that not only the graded venue will benefit
but also tourism in general.
To improve the choice offered to tourists, Dunkeld Country Estate offers
a variety of accommodation & conference packages, and the latest to
your choice is 4 weeks per year syndications in two- and three-bedroom,
self-catering cottages.
For more information contact 013-254 0814 or visit www.dunkeldestate.co.za
The Johannesburg SPCA held an auction on Friday evening 7th March 2003
to raise much-needed funds for our Society. I approached the Dunkeld Country
Estate to see if they would be willing to either donate a holiday or monetary
funds to assist our Society. Mr Ignas Oberholzer from the Dunkeld Country
Estate contacted me and said that he would be delighted to assist and
very kindly donated not only one week's holiday in their Luxury Executive
Suite (valued at R 6 150.00) but also, a weekend by Maryann (manager)
at Wickams Retreat (valued at over R 2000.00) plus five meal vouchers
by Mrs Maria Venter at The Dullstroom Station Restaurant (valued at R
750.00). In total these amazing gifts totaled a whopping R 8900.00 there
are simply not enough words to thank all these people for their generosity
and compassion.
The auction was a great success and we raised just under R 62 000.00.
This is truly an amazing amount and has certainly helped save many animal
lives. All the staff here are very overwhelmed by the amount of money
raised and the sincere compassion from everyone, it really does make our
jobs all worthwhile when people "give from the heart". Sometimes
it is totally heartbreaking working here but at the end of the day, when
we see a really traumatized, badly abused animal well again and being
placed in a loving family home, we all have a good feeling inside knowing
that we were able to save him or her and it gives us strength to face
the next abuse case.
The
Johannesburg SPCA also runs a Kennel Sponsorship programme that costs
R110.00 a month to assist with the feeding of all the animals in our care;
presently we have over 300 here!
A puppy, which was placed in a dustbin and left to die were brought to
us. We called her Bernadette. Luckily she survived and is now living happily
in a very loving home. This puppy reduced all of us here to tears and
it's such a joy to know that through the compassion of people like Ignas
Oberholzer and all our donors we are able to treat such cases and make
them well again.
Jane French (PRO)
Convener Vanessa Sand says some 22 000 consumer questionnaires were received this year, giving information on approximately 800 accommodation establishments across the country. A total of 194 semi-finalists in 27 categories were announced. These categories represent the entire spectrum of accommodation establishments in South Africa, including different types of guesthouses, bed & breakfasts, resorts and lodges, and even farm and traditional accommodation.
Guests
commented on aspects such as friendliness, service levels, cleanliness,
décor and food. The finalists in the awards programme were announced
on Monday, 11 March and the winners will receive their awards at an awards
ceremony at the Tourism Indaba in Durban on May 4. The Industrial Development
Corporation, Europcar and Visit SA support the awards programme.
DUNKELD COUNTRY ESTATE a double graded superior five star trout & game lodge, situated just outside Dullstroom was nominated as one of the finalists in the prestige AA Travel Accommodation Awards programme.
South African Tourism (SAT) was named as one of four platinum award winners - the only African organisation to be recognised - in the US-based Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International's (HSMIA) 2002 International Travel Competition. The results of the eleven marketing and advertising case studies were published in the bi-annual 2002/2003 HSMIA Marketing Review publication. SAT won a platinum award in the Golden Bell Public Relations Awards category for its campaign to grow inbound tourism from the Brazilian market.
The 10-month strategy was designed to blanket the top print and broadcast media with a number of initiatives and included a campaign launch event in São Paulo, three escorted press trips to South Africa for Brazilian print media journalists, press trips for individual television and print media on assignment as well as strategic alliances with leading Brazilian operators selling South Africa. The results were that more than US$50m (over R600m) in publicity was generated for South Africa - equal to 500 times SAT's total PR investment.
Other major spin-offs from the 10-month campaign included:
· Front page articles appeared in the travel and food sections of the top 120 newspapers in Brazil, as well as several leading lifestyle magazines.
· Since the start of the campaign, tour operators' call volumes for SA have doubled.
· Media coverage reached some 110 million Brazilians and succeeded in educating the Brazilian consumer about SA, generating consumer queries about new destinations that they generally didn't ask before such as the Garden Route, wine lands, etc.
The self-catering guesthouse, Villa Moria, in Dullstroom was built in
the early 1920's by the Burger family who used it as a blacksmith shop
before the introduction of vehicles. It was then converted to "Burger
Garage".
In the 1950's the Joubert family bought the garage and it subsequently
became a storeroom, which was used by the Vaid family to store all sorts
of interesting things.
In about 1993 the Bruwer family took it over and converted it into a guesthouse
In 2001 the Villa was put up for sale and the son (Eric jnr) and daughter-in-law
(Sharon) of the Bausers (living next door) bought it.
The Villa was completely revamped interior as well as exterior. Walls
and a security gate have been erected for privacy as well as security.
In 2002 the Tourism Grading Council awarded the Villa with 3 stars. In
December 2002 Dullstroom Reservations, who base their awards predominantly
on guest reports, awarded the Villa as the Best Self-catering Unit. In
2003 after reassessment by the Tourism Grading Council the Villa was awarded
4 stars. Service is of paramount value to this establishment as well as
the maintaining of the beautiful garden.
South Africa's ministry of environmental affairs and tourism has released tourism statistics for the full year 2002, and according to minister Mohammed Valli Moosa, South Africa is the fastest growing tourist destination in the world, having attracted over 6,4 million tourists last year.
According to the statistics, South Africa has by far exceeded its projected tourism growth numbers, with overseas arrivals (excluding Africa) up by a massive 20,1% (just over 1,8 million tourists) and a healthy 11,1% increase in total foreign arrivals over 2001.
"This is amazing news for South African tourism," commented Moosa. "We have continued to defy gravity throughout the year, confounding the global industry trend of 'flat' or decreased growth in a way that has proved that this is not just a 'flash in the pan' phenomenon for us.
"In an industry that has become fiercely competitive, we have proved in no uncertain way that, as an established preferred tourist destination, our strategies have allowed us to weather the ravages felt by many tourism authorities throughout the world during continued economic turndowns and political storms."
All of South Africa's key markets posted double digit growth for the year, with Europe up 24,2% (1,25 million); North America defiantly up 9,2%(despite an overall general reluctance of its citizens to travel long haul); an increase of 20,7% from Asia and 14,5% from Australasia. Arrivals from Africa were up by a healthy 7,7% to almost 4,5 million.
The UK and Germany again proved leading source markets in the European portfolio - 442 910 and 248 990 arrivals respectively - with China leading the pack out of Asia and Australasia with close to 37 000 arrivals, an increase of 24,5% over 2001 and Australia enjoying a 24,5% increase. The 7% increase in arrivals from the USA has been especially welcomed given the tough conditions affecting travel from that market.
An equally delighted Cheryl Carolus, chief executive officer of South African Tourism, said from Berlin in Germany where she is attending an annual international tourism exhibition with a strong contingent of South African exhibitors: "We are out of the woods, we have finally turned the corner. At long last, tourism is working, and can be seen to be working for our country. Team South Africa has worked hard for this moment of glory, a moment we fully intend to maintain. We will jealously defend our position as the fastest growing tourism destination in the world and maintain the amazing momentum that everyone has contributed toward."
IDP [Integrated Development Plan] projects are focused on areas of multiple
deprivations and the engagement of local communities in identifying the
problems and helping manage the solutions with the aim of creating a more
sustainable improvement in their living conditions.
It is an approached that brings together the concepts of strategic partnerships
and local agenda.
Consulting with members of the public regarding development proposals,
is not a new phenomenon and our IDP as broad developmental framework,
shows an indisputable linkage with local economic development strategies
as both deals mainly with improving the quality of life within the carrying
capacity of supporting ecosystems.
It is relevant that before project steps are undertaken the stakeholders
who are to play a vital role must be identified. Our community embraces
a very diverse range of people of different racial, social and economic
backgrounds all with something to contribute.
The Highlands Municipality realised the importance of community input
therefore grants the request of the Community Forum to extend the closing
date for comments on the Highlands IDP to the 23rd March 2003.
Some of the projects covered by the IDP is: (a) Water R 18.6 m (b) Sanitation
R 7.1 m (c) Electricity R 7.8 m (d) Roads & Storm Water R 16.4 m (e)
Cemeteries R 1 m (f) Waste management R 6.7 m (g) Transport Action R 3.2
m (h) Education R 1.9 m (i) Health R 1.74 m (j) Sports & Recreation
R 1.5 m (k) Post & Telecommunication R 0.1 m (l) Security R 1 m (m)
Emergency Services R 4.0 m (n) Social Welfare R 1.5 m (o) Housing R 4.0
m (p) Environmental Management R 6.0 m (q) Land Ownership & land use
Management R 1.4 m (r) Economical Development R 1.2 (s) Institutions R
2.9 m.
The Dullstroom Chamber of business and the Dullstroom rates payers association
arranged a special meeting to discuss the issues in the IDP with the community
of Dullstroom.
The
Highlands Economical Development Forum determined its current goal as
the reconstruction and development of the Highlands Municipality region.
The president of the Dullstroom Chamber of Business and vice chairman
of the HEDF task team, Mr Ignas Oberholzer, said in order to pay particular
attention to a new phenomenon, we must entail both a detailed and integrated
programme of action.
Central to these goals is the realisation of a new phenomenon, the struggle
against poverty, and the requirement that we transform the Highlands Municipality
region through a focussed programme of reconstruction and development.
With the struggle against poverty as our urgent task, we must at the same
time advance social transformation of our region, through a concerted
programme for reconstruction and development.
Recognising that reconstruction and development cannot bear fruit if carried
out by local government alone, we must build strong links with the community
and business organisations as well as women and youth structures by formalising
a Community Form for the entire Highlands.
He said this is a call for the mobilisation, strengthening and reconstruction
of the broader community of the Highlands Municipality region. The people's
power is now in action and council must transform this into reality. The
mayor of Highlands Municipality, Hon. Jane Nkalane, realised the importance
of this action by taking personal responsibility for this transformation
process.
November 2002 Edition
