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More than 20 beaches in the Eastern and Southern Cape have been awarded Blue Flag status on Tuesday.
This year's announcement of all the beaches, marinas and whale watching boats that have successfully achieved the status for the season ahead was made at Thesen Harbour in Knysna - home to South Africa's top estuary in terms of biodiversity.
Making the cut this year:
Nelson Mandela Bay's Humewood and Kings Beaches.
Hobie Beach was given Blue Flag "pilot status" and have to demonstrate that it can comply with the more than 30 criteria needed for a year before receiving full status.
Just along the coast, the Kouga area received accreditation for Dolphin Beach and Cape St Francis.
Plettenberg Bay also has four Blue Flag beaches including Robberg V, Keurbooms, Nature Valley and Lookout Beaches.
Along the Garden Route:
Mossel Bay's Santos, De Bakke, Hartenbos, Klein Brak and Wilderness Beaches complied.
In the Knysna Municipality, Buffalo Bay, Brenton-on-sea as well as Sedgefield Beaches can raise the blue flag this season. Thesen Island marina also received accreditation.
In the Amathole and Ndlambe area Hamburg, Boknes, Kenton-on-Sea, Kariega, Kelly's and Kleinemonde Beaches can also boast with the prestigious award.
Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom, who delivered the keynote address at the launch, said achieving Blue Flag status not only showed a positive contribution to conserving the country's natural resources, but was also of value for the tourism sector.
"Tourists visit the country for its beauty and natural resources. This in turn brings opportunities which creates jobs and boosts the economy,"Hanekom said.
He added that the tourism sector created 1.4 million jobs in South Africa.
Blue Flag is an international award given to beaches that meet certain strict criteria in terms of cleanliness, water and sand quality as well environmental education and management.
The criteria is set by the international coordinators of the Blue Flag campaign in Europe, namely the Foundation for Environmental Education. In South Africa it is headed by the Wildlife Education Society of South Africa (Wessa).
More than 40 countries are currently part of the Programme with more than 4000 Blue Flag beaches.
