Hi Lisa, thanks for your interesting article! South Africa has tremendous potential to develop its food and wine offering for visitors. A wide variety of cultures, a suitable climate and a few other things bode well. However, there are some pieces of the puzzle that are missing for South Africa to excel. I see a wine & food tourism conference is coming up in September. I hope that this conference will serve to codify the resources and steps needed to make South Africa a sustainable culinary destination. It takes time, but RSA needs a suitable roadmap. It’s like baking a cake. You need more than just the right ingredients. You need the right recipe and guidance how to cook, especially the first time you make a cake! Please pardon the corny cooking metaphor :)

Lastly, I just wanted to point out the our organization changed its name to the “World Food Travel Association” in 2013. Also, the report you are referring to was published in 2010 and was written by a sister organization “International Culinary Tourism Development” which was later dissolved and folded back into our new WFTA organization. All of our consulting and destination development activities are now handled as part of our Intelligence product portfolio. Small details I know, but I like to make sure everyone is on the same page. Good luck with your culinary tourism development plans!