Update

PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - What has become a significant tourism attraction for Bitou over the past five years, the Plett Wine & Bubbly Festival has been placed on the backburner after municipal sponsorship fell through at the eleventh hour.

Plett Tourism announced this week that the event, which was scheduled to take place next month, had been postponed to next year following the late withdrawal of Bitou Municipality's financial support.

The municipality became involved in sponsoring the event – which attracts visitors from across the country every year – after the main sponsor withdrew its sponsorship in 2017, to ensure that the festival would not lose the momentum it had built up over four years.

Although the municipality indicated it would again contribute to the festival this year, it recently informed Plett Tourism that it would no longer do so.

The municipality did not comment on the matter before going to print.

Cindy Wilson-Trollip of Plett Tourism said they are committed to the festival as it embodies the quality that people have come to associate with the Plett wine region. "Therefore we have decided to postpone the event, rather than produce a scaled-down version," she said, adding, "We are developing a new business model which will include sourcing private sponsorship and other revenue-generation mechanisms."

She said Plett Tourism and Plett Winelands apologised to all concerned. Those who had already bought tickets would receive refunds via Quicket.

The festival grew consistently over the past four years and during the last event attracted about 2 000 visitors – an improvement on the 500 guests when the festival was first introduced in 2014.

The event also created marked media coverage with editorial value of R1.9-million during its first year, growing to more than R3.5-million over the last event.