That's the start of a new marketing campaign Soekershof Walkabout, Mazes & Botanical Gardens, launched last week.

"We are not in favour of aggressive marketing; neither in making loose promises. We don't sell 'blah-blah' but offer real value for money. We do not organise uncontrollable Q&A-SMS-games; neither do we believe in huge advertising budgets the customer has to pay for" explains manager Garden Operations Maart Geduld of Soekershof Walkabout. "But we do agree that those investments can be very profitable for some in the tourism industry. Most people rather invest R 700.00 or more for a game drive to see imported tamed big five than R 150.00 pp for a game drive with real indigenous game and with owners/rangers who really care and don't (off-season) organise 'canned hunting' for the 'happy few'".

Owners and staff of Soekershof sincerely believe that integrity will pay off at the end but in the short-term integrity also has its downside; especially in the highly competitive tourism market. No-one (or hardly anyone) believes in integrity. Tour operators generally only believe in high commissions (so called "STO-discounts") and the higher the commission the more emphasis on promoting a certain destination. "That sounds logical and, from a business point of view, it IS logical. But also short-sighted for quite a few tourists in Europe have been complaining in the media about tour operators who only offer the same mainstream attractions without offering the 'real South Africa experience'. That, these tourists discover via word-of-mouth, publications of the better -more investigative- travel journalists (the non-sponsored ones) and the Internet" explains CEO and co-owner Herman van Bon.

"It's a mindbreaking challenge to market an off-beat destination with low budgets. Regionally we are very much 'undermarketed'. That also has to do with local politics. For that reason only we should advertise more aggressively.

This region is known for its wines of which some are internationally highly acclaimed by the real 'connaisseur'. That most South Africans are visiting the cellars with the lesser ('papsak') quality is a sideline which is out of this context but on its own an interesting item for a wine-journo".

Most wine cellars in the Robertson Wine Valley do not know about most other things-to-do in the Robertson Wine Valley or they only direct their guests to activities owned by their own friends/family-members and so on. "That is human nature but no good for tourism in the long term", says Van Bon.

"The new slogan indeeds sounds very aggressive towards the wine/spirit industry and - first thought - it does not fit in our intention of providing people with honest information but, in its own right, it IS Honest!!!. It might also make some people think about their own drinking habits. But first of all it's a message for the 70 percent of the South African weekenders who visit this area for the 'free wine tasting hospitality'", says Geduld.

"We are not opposing free wine tastings -we are priviliged to live in an area with some of South Africa's best wines- although we are convinced that if all wine cellars introduce a wine tasting fee it will certainly negativily influence the lower end of the accommodation market in this region and also the 'papsak' segment of the wine industry. At the end such an introduction will benefit the quality minded part of the tourism industry including -most of the- cellars".