Last week saw the introduction for the first time of Blue Flag Marina awards in South Africa.

The Blue Flag Award is an environmental award which has a strict criteria of 24 standards before they can be awarded. It is a well recognised international standard and being awarded Blue Flag status can seriously boost tourism, visitor numbers and investment. The Blue Flag award encourages moves towards sustainable and responsible tourism with low environmental impact and the more blue flags awarded the better for the wildlife and scenery it endeavours to protect.

South Africa is launching a new Blue Flag award for marinas including Cape Town’s False Bay Yacht Club, Granger Bay Water Club and Royal Cape Yacht Club. They will be working towards full blue flag status by June next year. Blue Flag marinas will give the Cape Town more of a competitive edge and help promote it as a world-class ecotourism destination. One very noticeable missing marina is the famous V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. It couldn’t meet all 24 targets in such a short space of time so it is aiming to join the Blue Flag programme in 2013.

Twenty-seven beaches have just been awarded Blue Flag Status in South Africa and these are:
Western Cape: Bikini, Camps Bay, Clifton Fourth, Grotto, Hartenbos, Hawston, Keurboomstrand (provisional), Kleinmond, Lappiesbaai, Llandudno (provisional), Mnandi, Muizenberg, Robberg 5, Santos, Silwerstroomstrand (provisional), Strandfontein, Witsand
KwaZulu-Natal: Lucien, Marina, Margate, Ramsgate, Trafalgar, Umzumbe
Eastern Cape: Dolphin, Humewood, Kariega, Kellys

And an exciting further development was the announcement by Ted Knott, National Coastal Project Manager for the Wildlife and Environment Society of SA, of a whale-watching boat that would be receiving Blue Flag Pilot status through the Dyer Island Conservation Trust.

It is hoped that the Blue Flag Award scheme will be rolled out across South Africa shortly giving a huge boost to the tourism industry as well as protecting and conserving the fabulous wildlife and scenery that South Africa is so famous for.