PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - While the superstitious associate the number 13 with bad luck, the number could just turn out lucky for Plettenberg Bay.
The small coastal holiday town has been nominated as Africa's "leading beach destination" for the 13th time.
This honour is part of the prestigious World Travel Awards and after several nominations, Plett finally took the win in 2020.
Locals are keeping their fingers crossed that a second win is coming their way.
The World Travel Awards was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry.
The brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire.
Each year, World Travel Awards covers the globe staging a series of regional gala ceremonies to celebrate the achievements and strengths of the travel industry, in each key geographical region.
Above a win and 12 further nominations in these awards, Plett is no stranger to honours for its beaches and marine attractions.
Plett currently has six international Blue Flag beaches, two international Blue Flag status boats and is a recog-nised Mission Blue Hope Spot.
To this end, Plett Tourism deve-loped the Plett Ocean Festival and associated Marine Science Symposium, celebrating and highlighting a specific set of oceanic attractions during the winter months which include the whales, sharks, dolphins and marine birds that gather in and around the bay at the start of the annual sardine run.
This festival and symposium are set to start on 1 July.
For a 13th year, Plett's beaches have earned it a nomination in the World Travel Awards Leading Beach Destination category.
Plett Tourism chief executive Patty Butterworth said it is well known that southern right and humpback whales spend time in the bay during their migration along the South African coastline and that the winter months are particularly good for whale watching.
Surrounded by the Garden Route National Park and marine protected areas, two CapeNature reserves, a large colony of Cape fur seals on Robberg, vibrant soft coral reefs for scuba diving, and a variety of birding habitats to enjoy, "it makes sense that, in addition to being chosen as a front-runner for Africa's leading beach destination, Plett is also positioned as a sustainable conservation, research and nature hub".
If you would like to cast your vote for Plett as Africa's Leading Beach Destination in the World Travel Awards, vote at www.worldtravelawards.com/vote.
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