Stellenbosch Wine
Routes rakes in international Wine Tourism Award
Warwick Wine Safari
South Africa’s first
and foremost wine route, the Stellenbosch American Express ® Wine
Routes, has reaffirmed its standing as a premier wine tourism
organization, by clinching the title as Best Promotional Body at the Wine
Tourism Awards 2014 of the authoritative Drinks International magazine – one of
the most trusted and respected global drinks journals.
Now in its fourth
year, this coveted competition serves as an industry benchmark for excellence
in the field of wine tourism and the Stellenbosch Wine Routes was lauded for
its comprehensive efforts in implementing innovative tourism initiatives to
promote the region and the myriad of events and activities it has to offer.
“The establishing
of the Stellenbosch Wine Routes in 1971 was seen as the start of wine tourism
in South Africa. Not only did it herald the first co-operative venture between
a corporate entity and a wine region, but it also enabled a specific wine
region to approach the whole topic of wine tourism on a level that had until
then not been seen in the South African wine industry. Today we are recognised
as the leader in South African wine tourism and the country’s foremost wine
route in terms of quality wines, tourism offerings, professionalism,
reputation, innovation and community involvement,” shares Annareth Bolton, CEO
of the Stellenbosch Wine Routes.
This prestigious award
follows shortly after the birth of the wine route’s dynamic 2014 marketing
campaign, Stellenbosch Experience, which was launched in
conjunction with Stellenbosch 360 (aka Stellenbosch Tourism) to expand the
region’s wine tourism footprint locally and aboard.
The Stellenbosch
Experience aims to position the Stellenbosch Winelands as Africa’s
wine tourism capital and one of the top wine tourism regions in the world and
invites wine and tourism entities to join the campaign as preferred marketing
partners to elevate the region and their brands nationally and internationally.
“Aiming at maximum
international recognition, the region and participating marketing partners will
be represented at ITB, Berlin in March for the international launch of the Stellenbosch
Experience to the world's top travel trade and media, followed by the
Tourism Indaba in Durban in May,” explains Bolton.
As part of the
campaign, the wine route recently launched its new, inter-active blog, StellenBlog,
which shares and celebrates the latest success stories, communities and rich
culture of this historic Winelands destination with daily updates on the
latest Stellenbosch attractions and achievements through various categories
featured on the catchy blog wall.
Other campaign
elements include an enhanced digital presence across all social media networks
and an innovative wine tourism blogger campaign with top international and
national travel, lifestyle and food bloggers between April and September.
The Stellenbosch
Wine Routes currently boasts more than 150 wineries as members, which
have been divided into five sub-routes (Bottelary Hills, Greater
Simonsberg, Helderberg, Stellenbosch Valley and Stellenbosch Berg). Besides its
reputation for wine tourism excellence, the route also leads the way in
transformation and empowerment endeavours. These include wine appreciation
courses for farm workers and educational visits to Stellenbosch by BEE travel
agents and hospitality students.
For more information
on the Stellenbosch Experience initiative visit the new blog http://blog.wineroute.co.za/, contactMariette
du Toit-Helmbold at experience@wineroute.co.za or
phone 083 225 5955.
