The seaside town of Plettenberg Bay has been awarded eight international Blue Flag awards for 2023/24.
The coveted Blue Flag status is one of the world's most recognisable voluntary eco-labels awarded to beaches, marinas, and sustainable boating tourism operators.
Plettenberg Bay received full Blue Flag status for six of its beaches – Robberg 5, The Waves, Nature's Valley, Lookout, The Dunes and Singing Kettle – and seal-swimming operator Offshore Adventures for its two boats.
The town shares the accolade with 40 other sites across five destinations, demonstrating a continued commitment to sustainable tourism.
In order to qualify, a series of stringent environmental, educational, safety and accessibility criteria must be met and maintained. This is done at 4 500 sites across 45 countries.
Bitou Municipality mayor Dave Swart said: “I am pleased to share that Bitou Municipality has retained its six Blue Flag Beach Awards for the 2023/24 year.
“These awards are indicative of the importance that Bitou Municipality and our beach staff place on the maintenance and upkeep of our beaches to keep them in pristine condition for our locals and visitors.
“Thanks also to Plett Tourism, Bitou Environmental Manager, and Bitou Facilities Manager as well for their assistance in this application.
“Although Bitou Municipality places great emphasis in maintaining the pristine condition of our beaches, much credit also goes to the Keep Plett Clean Campaign and our general public who are always willing to assist with clean-ups of the beaches.
“I also appeal to our dog owners who walk their dogs on our beaches to continue to assist in keeping our beaches up to standard by cleaning up after their dogs and adhering to signage in areas where dogs are not allowed on the beach, or need to be on a leash,” he said.
Cape Times