This month the City of Cape Town launched a new Blue Flag Marina Programme during a special ceremony at the Royal Cape Yacht Club, taking up the challenge to host the first ever Blue Flag marinas in South Africa.
After approaching 15 yacht clubs and marinas in Cape Town, three agreed to join the programme and – with the support of the City – applied for pilot status in 2011. They are False Bay Yacht Club, Granger Bay Water Club and Royal Cape Yacht Club.
With continued support from the City, these three marinas will now work toward complying with all 24 criteria set by Blue Flag International and apply for full status by 15 June 2012. This includes each marina running three environmental education programmes, which will be supported through the City’s Youth Environmental School (YES) programme. The outcome will be known by the end of October 2012.
Having Blue Flag Beaches and Marinas is a significant tourism draw card because international visitors know what to expect when visiting a Blue Flag beach or marina. The programme challenges local authorities, beach operators and yacht and marina management to achieve high standards in environmental management, environmental education, safety and security and water quality.
The Blue Flag brand also adds value to Cape Town’s Responsible Tourism offerings and supports the implementation of the City’s Responsible Tourism Policy.
“One of the key elements of Responsible Tourism is the development, management and marketing of tourism in ways that create competitive advantages, and the Blue Flag Programme for marinas could only benefit and help to sell Cape Town as a world-class destination,” said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic, Environmental and Spatial Planning, Alderman Belinda Walker.
Blue Flag marinas also help to ensure better business opportunities for tourism enterprises, while also promoting economic development in the boat-building industry, thus creating job opportunities.
The Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism for the Provincial Government of the Western Cape, Alan Winde, is supportive of the programme and the City looks forward to working with the Provincial Government in the future. It is envisaged that, in time, the programme will include yacht clubs and marinas outside the city, such as Mykonos Yacht Club and Marina in Langebaan and SA Yachtport Marina in Saldanha.
Background
The City has successfully participated in the Blue Flag Beach Programme since its inception in South Africa in 2001. For the 2010/2011 season 27 beaches in South Africa received full Blue Flag status. Cape Town received full status for six beaches namely: Bikini, Mnandi, Strandfontein, Muizenberg, Camps Bay and Clifton Fourth beaches, and two pilot status beaches, namely Llandudno and Silverstroomstrand.
The City has applied for full Blue Flag status for all eight beaches for the 2011/2012 season and will know if the application has been successful by the end of October.
The Blue Flag is a voluntary eco-label awarded annually to over 3 650 beaches and marinas in 44 countries across Europe, South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada and the Caribbean.
The programme is owned and run by the independent non-profit organisation (NGO), the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) in Denmark. In South Africa, Blue Flag is managed by the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) – also an independent NGO.
Participating coastal authorities act as the on-the-ground implementers of the Blue Flag Beach Programme, and Marina and Yacht Club management as the implementers of the Blue Flag Marina Programme.
The Blue Flag Programme was started in France in 1985. It has been operating in Europe since 1987 and in areas outside of Europe since 2001, when South Africa joined. Today, Blue Flag has become a truly global programme with an ever-increasing number of countries participating in the programme.
Over the years, the Blue Flag Programme has become a highly respected and recognised eco-label working to bring together the environmental, tourism and economic sectors at local, regional and national levels.
