PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Despite being a small coastal holiday destination, Plett will once again fly the Blue Flag high, outshining many bigger coastal areas in the country.
Last week, Plett was awarded Blue Flag status for six of its beaches once again, which means that it has the second most Blue Flag beaches in the Western Cape, just behind Cape Town, which managed to secure 10 sites. Bitou tied with the Hessequa Municipality for the second spot.
Nationally, Plettenberg Bay also has the second highest number of beaches with this prestigious title - tying in second place with Kwazulu-Natal's Ray Nkonyeni.
It also outshone many other major coastal centres including Nelson Mandela Bay, which only managed to secure three awards.
The iconic Blue Flag is one of the world's most recognised voluntary eco-labels awarded to beaches, marinas and sustainable boating tourism operators.
To qualify for the Blue Flag, a series of stringent environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria must be met and maintained.
There are currently more than 4 500 Blue Flag sites in more than 45 countries around the world. In South Africa, Blue Flag has been operational since 2001 and has municipal, marina and tourism boat partners in 18 coastal municipalities around the country.
Blue Flag is voluntary, which shows commitment to environmental sustainability from those municipalities, marinas and tourism boat operators that are awarded annually. All properties and companies that apply for the Blue Flag award are assessed by a South African national jury as well as by the Blue Flag international jury in Europe.
Robberg 5 is one of six Bitou beaches that received Blue Flag status for the 2021/22 season. Photo: Ewald Stander
Plettenberg Bay's Blue Flag beaches for the 2021/2022 season includes Robberg 5 (for the 12th year), Keurboomstrand (10th year), Nature's Valley (9th year), Lookout Beach (7th year), The Dunes (fifth year) and Singing Kettle (4th year). Keurboomstrand also received a special award for having reached 10 years of Blue Flag status.
Local operator Offshore Adventures added to the awards with both their vessels, the Robberg Express and Oceanic Express, receiving Blue Flag accreditation.
"The iconic Blue Flag is one of the world's most recognised beach, marina and sustainable tourism operator campaigns that recognise the commitment to stringent environmental, educational, safety and accessibility criteria," said Patty Butterworth, chief executive of Plett Tourism.
"As a world-class beach destination, we share this excitement with key role players who are committed to maintaining our Blue Flag status. This includes the Bitou Municipal beach development team, our marine activities and conservation initiatives. It is such a pleasure to be able to share our most valuable asset with the world."
Bitou's manager for facilities and maintenance James Sijama accepted the award on behalf of the municipality at a prestigious event held in Hermanus last week.
He said that these awards are a great reward to the Bitou Municipality, stakeholders, and all the residents of Plettenberg Bay for the hard work put in to keep beaches in a pristine condition.
"The fact that for the past 10 years we have consistently received these awards proves that we take our beaches very seriously - and this must never stop, because our beaches contribute immensely to the tourism potential of our town," Sijama said.
This year Knysna received Blue Flag status for two of its beaches: Brenton-on-Sea and Buffalo Bay.
Thesens Island and Thesen Harbour Town also received Blue Flag status in the marina category.
Lookout Beach in Plettenberg Bay once again received Blue Flag status.
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