PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Plettenberg Bay's popular Plett Wine & Bubbly Festival, which showcases the area's burgeoning wine industry, is back on the cards.

This after Plett Tourism announced last week that the event had to be postponed to next year following the withdrawal of the event's main sponsor, Sasfin.

But, on Tuesday 29 August, Plett Tourism chairman Peter Wallington announced at their AGM that the Bitou municipality had stepped in and pledged its support to keep the festival going.

"We will therefore most likely host the festival during November this year," he said. "The festival has built great momentum since its introduction in 2014 and it would have been sad to see that momentum dissipate. We are therefore very grateful that we can forge ahead."

When the festival was first introduced in 2014 it attracted about 500 visitors, a year later the figure more than doubled and by last year 1 600 people attended. The event has also created massive media coverage with editorial value of R1.9-million during the first year, R2.2-million in 2015 and more than R3.5-million last year.

During its first year most of the visitors were locals. The following year saw the Eastern Cape visitor base grow and last year about 60% were from Plett, 33% from mainly the Eastern Cape and 7% international visitors.

According to an event survey, 91% of visitors rated the experience good or excellent, 88% said they were likely to or would definitely attend a future festival and 87% rated the venue as good or excellent.

Wallington said details about the festival would be released in due course.

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