The increase in tourism to South Africa is boosting the sale of South African wines in the UK, according to research done by London-based companies SA Wines Online and Southern Africa Direct.

SA Wines Online, an online retailer specialising in selling South African wine to the UK market, found that the large majority of their customers have either visited the country or have friends or family there.

“When we first set up the business in 2001, we were targeting South African expats,” says founder Kevin Gallagher. “But recent research has shown that 80% of our customers are in fact British and that most of them have been to the Cape Winelands.”

The company has now teamed up with UK television channel Southern Africa Direct to market and distribute South African wine to this growing market of tourists. The resulting venture, SA Direct Wines, is being promoted to the 9 million SKY viewers who are able receive Southern Africa Direct, and allows them to choose from the largest selection of wines available in the UK at www.sadirectwines.com.

More than half a million British tourists visit South Africa a year, with the Cape Wine Route being one of the three most popular destinations, alongside Cape Town and the Garden Route.

“Wine tasting and dining out is a big part of the cultural and emotional experience for travellers to South Africa. We have found that when they return, they seek to recreate that experience and thus become regular consumers of South African products such as wine and food,” says Pierre van der Hoven, CEO of Southern Africa Direct.

“Southern Africa Direct is not only aimed at people interested in travelling to Southern Africa or doing business there, but also at anyone interested in the lifestyle and culture of the region - so marketing South African wine and other local products is an important part of what we do.

“It’s wonderful to be working with a company like SA Wines Online, who like us are passionate about Southern Africa, and who have now been short-listed two years running by Decanter magazine as the Online Retailer of the Year.”

The UK remains South Africa’s largest wine export destination. Wines of South Africa CEO Su Burch recently noted that South African wine exports have soared in defiance of the international economic slowdown, with over 363-million litres sold offshore in the 12 months to July 2008, an increase of 27% on the previous 12 months.

As we start to feel the pinch of the credit crunch, we’re all slowly reviewing our holiday plans… With the pound losing value, America is no longer a bargain and Europe is starting to look rather expensive, not to mention cold this time of the year. But there is one destination which is gaining in value for money: South Africa. Recent weeks have seen the rand slip - but the sun is not shining less and the wine is not tasting any worse, points out Matt Rudd in The Times. He goes in search of a bargain holiday …

Seattle Times writer and photographer Steve Ringman took some time out from the African news circuit to visit the Serengeti grasslands of Tanzania. While to him Africa remains overwhelming, one night in Ndutu around the camp fire the scale felt right… Read his story and view his photos …

July to November is whale watching season in South Africa. The Guardian’s Tania Cagnoni headed to the Western Cape coast for a close encounter with the ocean’s mighty beasts.

Read her full story here.

The inaugural Africa in Motion short film competition for emerging African filmmakers, sponsored by Southern Africa Direct, has been won by Rogério Manjate from Mozambique for his film I Love You.

I Love You was among eight finalists screened at the Africa in Motion (AiM) film festival in Edinburgh on Saturday, and the winning film was announced by jury member and acclaimed filmmaker Gaston Kaboré. Manjate will £1 000 prize money to assist him in his filmmaking career.

The judges praised the film’s candour and outstanding cinematography. Jury member writer, presenter and filmmaker Zina Saro-Wiwa said, “How much did I love this film?? I Love You is much sexier than is normally expected in African film, and was wonderfully directed, and I loved the timing and pace. The film was brief and confident with lots of heart. Daring but tender and sweet.”

While the judges chose I Love You, the Audience Choice Award went toTunisian filmmaker Anis Lassoued for The Magic Crop, a charming magic realist tale that has already won several awards at film festivals worldwide.

Watch all the AiM short film finalists online at Southern Africa Direct,

Read an interview with festival director Lizelle Bischoff.

Southern Africa Direct attended the launch of the Global South Africans (GSA) initiative by the International Marketing Council of South Africa in London this week. A group of distinguished and influential South Africans living abroad gathered at South Africa House on Trafalgar Square to celebrate the initiative, which aims to create a network of South Africans globally and harness their talent and resources to the benefit of South Africa.

Speakers included SA Tourism CEO Moeketsi Mosola, South African-born member of the House of Lords Lord Anthony St John of Bletso and former Old Mutual CEO Jim Sutcliffe. Watch what they had to say:

Some 50 000 British rugby supporters are expected to land in South Africa for the Lions tour next June. The Telegraph reported today that not even the credit crunch can keep rugby fanatics from making the long-haul journey for the three Test series against the Springboks.

The estimated figure is 20 000 more than those who travelled to New Zealand for the tour in 2005. Of these about seven to eight thousand are expected to travel on official packages ranging from flight and match tickets, costing around £2,200, to a full 38-day experience at over £7,000. The bulk, though, are set to make their own travel and accommodation plans and will be reliant on gaining tickets through public sales or via the black market.

A Lions tour only happens once in every four years and the last one to South Africa was in 1997.

Prince William and Prince Harry got onto motorcross bikes and set off on an eight-day race in aid of charity today. They are part of the 80 riders taking part in Enduro Africa 08, which aims to raise money for three organisations working in Southern Africa, including Sentebale, the charity for Aids orphans Prince Harry supports in Lesotho.

The cross-country race starts in Port Edward on the Southern Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal and ends in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. Watch them get started:

Southern Africa Direct has teamed up with SA Wines Online to bring the British public the largest selection of South African Wines available for sale online.

SA Direct Wines offers a variety of old trusted brands, as well as new, exciting wines emerging from South Africa. For those who like a combination or are new to South African wine, there are great value mixed cases.

Visit www.sadirectwines.com

The growing trend of viewing video on the web offers significant opportunities for southern Africa to market itself as an international tourism destination on the internet.

“Tourists are increasingly looking for multimedia-rich information on travel destinations when planning their holidays online,” said Pierre van der Hoven, CEO of Southern Africa Direct, at the recent E-Tourism Africa conference held in Johannesburg.

Southern Africa Direct is a UK television channel promoting the region to the Sky TV network’s nine million subscribers, as well as online globally.

Van der Hoven pointed out that 80% of the UK population watch an average of 80 videos online a month. “If you’re not in the video game, you’re not in the game,” he said, adding, “Just because broadband availability does not always allow people in Africa to view video, does not mean that international visitors are not doing so on a daily basis. Tourism organisations have to take this new medium into account when marketing their destinations to a global audience.”

Damian Cook, MD of E-Tourism Africa, said at the conference that Africa is losing millions of potential tourists because the travel industry is not effectively making their products available to consumers on the internet.

“Travel is now the number one selling commodity online. For 70% of travellers online is the first port of call,” he said. “There is an enormous disparity between how business is done worldwide and how it is done in Africa. This is the so-called ‘digital divide’ - we are not keeping pace with what’s happening globally.”

Cook said that simply having a website is not enough - tourists want to be able to not only find the information they are looking for, but also make instant bookings online. “It’s about real-time shopping. Africa has 4% of the global tourism market - of that 4% only 2% is sold online,” said Cook, pointing out that in many African countries it is still illegal to take payment online.

However, the ability to make holiday bookings to South Africa is only part of the problem. “We have a problem way beyond just online booking. Foreigners are being bombarded with negative publicity on Africa,” said Van der Hoven. He believes that South Africa has not yet scratched the surface of the UK tourism market.

“What we know is that once they come, they love it, but first we have to address their negative perceptions. We have to get our product into their homes,” he said. “Television and video on the web offers the perfect opportunity to do this.”

The E-Tourism Southern Africa conference was the first in a series of regional conferences be held across the continent, culminating in a pan-African conference in Johannesburg next year.