Raise glasses and vote at Klink Awards

THE sixth annual Klink Awards – the South African wine tourism industry’s only consumer-driven competition – will have a new format this year. Brought to you by Wine Tourism South Africa (WTSA), Klink celebrates the country’s winelands tourism offerings by getting visitors to nominate their favourite experiences through WTSA’s #SliceofSA platform.

Wine farms and destinations have registered and their offerings are being promoted to potential local and global wine tourists to entice them to trythe destinations listed in 15 refreshed categories and to share/like their favourites, which will determine the finalists.

WTSA launched #SliceofSA – which harnesses the global reach of digital media to enhance WTSA’s value proposition and boost yearround tourism in SA’s winelands – last March. The categories for this year’s Klink Awards are: best winelands burger (new), wine country cuisine (new), great pairings, gourmet traveller, out the ordinary, boutique cellars (new), accommoda- tion, SA wine icons (new), great outdoors, best bubbly (new), best events and festivals (new), utimate winelands experience ( new), what’s new, On The Hop, and touring (new). The finalists will be announced on December 10, after which a public call to vote will go live until March 10.

Another update to the Klink Awards is the POP^Klink concept of pop-up events, which will bring the winelands to the visitor by expanding their wine tourism experience. “We spent time looking at potential gaps that WTSA could fill by way of offering #SliceofSA partners’ longer- term exposure within the tourism sector, as well as continuing the consumer experience off-line, both during the campaign and after the announcement of the Klink winners,” said Monika Elias, founder of WTSA.

For more information on Slice of SA and the 2016 Klink Awards visit winetourismsouthafrica. co.za/sliceofsa, www.facebook.com/ KlinkAward or follow on Twitter @ KlinkAwards

Diemersdal Durbanville wine route is listed on Klink Awards.