THIS TOURISM WEEK Number 63 - Thursday 5 April, 2007Brought to you By The Point Hotel, Mossel Bay www.pointhotel.co.za
New Route For Steam Tourism In The Southern Cape
Want the BarefootBenefit? There’s more at the end of this message. And, just so’s you know - This Tourism Week isPROUDLY BAREFOOT AND FULLY SOUTH AFRICAN
The Outeniqua Choo Tjoe has always been one of the biggest attractions in the Southern Cape so when floods hit in August last year and the line between George and Knysna was closed (whether permanently or not, the board of Transnet has yet to decide), things began to look pretty bleak.The Outeniqua Choo Tjoe is the Garden Route’s Table Mountain, the anchor tenant in its tourism mix. And the fact that Transnet didn’t move in with all speed to restore the line almost overnight indicates to me that its board has no idea of the value of the thing. Or of its potential (but they could learn - look, for example, at the Puffing Billy in Australia. It’s a short 24 km line that doesn’t really go anywhere [except back again]. And it’s 40 km from the nearest city - but it carries 250,000 people a year. And it’s only ever closed on Christmas Day.)So it seemed for a while there that steam in the Garden Route was about to go the way of, well, steam, until a light began to glimmer at the end of the tunnel when the local guys - under train manager Kobus Volschenk - diverted the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe onto the Mossel Bay line. Problem was, the Mossel Bay station had become neglected and wasn’t suitable for human consumption (and wasn’t close to any tourism attractions, either), so the ride ended, at first, in Hartenbos - which may be a holiday resort, but is definitely not a destination.Then some bright spark realised - wait-a-minnit! - that the George - Mossel Bay line links the two biggest museums in the Western Cape outside of Cape Town. And so the idea of a museum-to-museum tour was born.Mossel Bay Tourism came to the party, board members Andre Strauss and Hannes Nel helped with the arrangements, funds were voted for the construction of new platforms at a more convenient place (right there on the beach front) - and last Monday the Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe made its first run between the Outeniqua Transport Museum in George and the Dias Museum Complex in Mossel Bay.And I was privileged to have been one of its passengers.It’s an awesome trip. I enjoyed the bridge crossings at the Malgate and Gwaiing Rivers, the farmlands outside George with the Outeniqua Mountains in the background and then that amazing vista over Glentana and the Indian Ocean. Through a tunnel (the only one on the line) and out again to a sweeping view all the way across Mossel Bay to the Cape St Blaize Lighthouse. And all the way I had my eyes on the water, looking for whales and dolphins. Across the Great and Little Brak River Lagoons, through a fynbos reserve and past Hartenbos and then through the eerie, deeply atmospheric Voorbaai Yards, the largest steam locomotive maintenance workshop in the country, great rusting hulks and fading carriages aching with stories and the dramas of an almost forgotten time.Hundreds of people at the side of the track, waving to us as we passed Mossel Bay’s new and shiny shopping centre, the Langeberg Mall, and then the final run into town with steam billowing and whistle blowing, the sea and the beaches and Mossel Bay’s famous caravan parks to the left of us as we rolled to a gentle stop at the Dias Museum Station with a brass band to greet us (a glorious noise!) and great groups of people who’d come down just to watch our arrival.Speaker of the Mossel Bay Council, Nicky Lodewijks, broke a bottle of champagne on the engine and Eden District Municipal Mayor Rudi Laws made a speech and I got all goose bumps because I realised immediately that we had a winner (and I was right - today the train was fully booked and Kobus had to arrange another carriage at the last minute to meet the demand).The Choo Tjoe stops in Mossel Bay for a little over two hours - enough time to explore the Dias Museum Complex’s Maritime Museum with its replica of Bartholomew Dias’ Caravel, to visit the Shell Museum and the Braille Trail and the famous Post Office Tree itself, and, of course, to nip into the CBD for a quick bite to eat before departure for George at 2:15.The Outeniqua Choo Tjoe will now run between George and Mossel Bay every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from May to August, and then every day except Sundays (and Christmas day) from September to April. The fare is R100.00 return (excluding the cost of entry to the museums) and a 10% tour operators discount is available.More information and reservations from Mossel Bay Tourism - http://www.visitmosselbay.co.za/play/train.html or call +27(0)44 691 2202
The Point Hotel, Mossel BayI recently hosted a media tour Mossel Bay where we stayed in the 4-star Point Hotel - www.pointhotel.co.za. It has to be the most spectacularly situated property I’ve ever had the privilege of visiting: right there on the rocks with only a long, straight tidal pool between you and the Indian Ocean. The hotel has more than 50 sea-facing en-suite rooms and an excellent restaurant - and owner Louis Harris tells me they’re gearing up to serve dinners on the balcony because each room has its own, private, sea-facing patio that’s perfect for romantic meals-for-two. And, with a new management team, established conference facilities, easy access for the disabled and wireless internet in both the rooms and the public areas, it’s an ideal destination for holidays, tours and corporate breakaways. Visit the Point Hotel at www.pointhotel.co.za or call +27(0)44 691 3512 (and if you’re looking for the marketing manager, ask for Chantel Edwards).
Want To Be Read By More Than 6,300 Names In The Tourism Industry?

Want to tap into the power of internet marketing? Want to speak to my audience? Mail me if you have a product or service that’s of interest to the tourism industry - and let’s see how we can use This Tourism Week to better tourism in the Beloved Country.

…Have a Great Tourism Week! MARTIN HATCHUELBarefootWriter

VISIT THIS TOURISM WEEKBrilliantly designed by S2 Web Solutions, www.thistourismweek.co.za offers back issues, useful links and a media room with downloadable releases and high res images. And remember to go to the Products and Services page to download my paper ‘Managing Perceptions - The Care And Feeding Of The Media.’ You’ll see I have a lot to say about managing the media during a crisis. … AND AN INVITATIONI’m always looking for subjects for feature articles in This Tourism Week. Please mail martin@thistourismweek.co.za if you have information of broad general interest to more than 6,200 readers in South Africa’s Tourism Industry. Want the BarefootBenefit?

Visit www.barefootclients.co.za
The BarefootBenefit

BarefootClients provides communications services (copy writing, advertising, printing and that kind of stuff) as well as strategy planning and creative thought for select clients who share our Barefoot On The Beach approach to business.

It’s simple. We believe that successful marketing creates relationships - friendships - between businesses and their customers. Our job is to help you develop friendships with your clients: to make them so comfortable with you that they’ll happily walk Barefoot On The Beach with you … Because business works best between friends. That’s the BarefootBenefit.

Want it? Visit www.barefootclients.co.za
ABOUT THIS TOURISM WEEKThis Tourism Week is a personal e-letter and informed commentary on issues affecting South Africa’s tourism industry. If you don’t want to read it, please e-mail unsubscribe@thistourismweek.co.za - but if you think it’s worth sharing, please forward this message to your friends and ask them to subscribe. Please note that the articles in This Tourism Week may only be reproduced with permission.Want it? Mail me - martin@thistourismweek.co.za. Back issues: www.thistourismweek.co.za This Tourism Week, 63 Wilson Street, Hunter’s Home, PO Box 2690, Knysna 6570

Telephone +27(0)44 384 1810 | Cell +27(0)84 951 0574 | martin@thistourismweek.co.za

PROUDLY BAREFOOT. FULLY SOUTH AFRICAN

BULK MAIL SERVICE: CHAKARINET