Two splendid Italian hospitality gems brought Malindi back into the limelight and won just as many awards at the twenty-ninth edition of the World Travel Awards held a few days ago in Nairobi. In the continental excellence section, Malindi won, thanks to the Billionaire Resort and Retreat owned by Flavio Briatore, the award as the best Boutique Resort on the continent while the Diamon Dream of Africa, the historic resort owned by the Rosso family, was judged as the first All-Inclusive Resort.
Mention was also made of Antonio Colleluori's Leopard Point Beach Resort, although it was mistakenly awarded the prize for the best Residence-Hotel in Africa, which instead went to the almost homonymous Leopard Beach Resort in Diani
The awards for Kenya's coastline were not so obvious, despite the event being played 'at home', as the best beach destination in Africa was Zanzibar and other awards for hotels and beach residences went to Tanzania, Mozambique, Morocco and South Africa.
Kenya, however, took the prize for best continental destination, thanks also to awards in the safari (Mara Kempinski best tented camp) and luxury residences categories (award also for Sirai House in Kilifi), while Swahili Beach in Diani was judged the best Beach Resort overall and Ocean Sports in Watamu the best sports resort.
Nairobi, on the other hand, earned the title of best destination for business tourism, with awards for several hotels, particularly chains present in other African countries: Radisson was the best.
Returning to Malindi, thanks to the facilities designed by our compatriots and brought forward by managers who did not stop in the face of the various tourism crises of the past years, looking ahead and always guaranteeing top service, Malindi can now begin a path upwards towards recovering the name that for so many years in the past, especially at the end of the last century and in the early years of the new millennium, marked it out as one of the most sought-after resorts not only by Italians.