Trip advisor has placed Nairobi among top 10 world destinations for 2018.
The capital came third after Ishigaki in Japan and Kapaa in Hawaii. Halifax (Canada) came fourth followed by, Gdansk (Poland), San Jose (Costa Rica), Riga (Latvia), Rovinj (Croatia), Nerja (Spain) and Casablanca (Morocco) wrapped up the top 10 list.
According to the company’s website, the winners were decided using an algorithm that measures the year-on-year increase in positive TripAdvisor ratings for restaurants, hotels and attractions, plus the number of destination bookings compared to previous years.
Nairobi enjoys the laxity of being known as the safari capital of Africa, but the modern world has quickly caught up with the city and it has become one of Africa’s largest, and most interesting cities.
Nairobi is a city that never seems to sleep. The entire town has a boundless energy, and is thriving place where all of human life can be found.
This is a place of great contrasts where race, tribe and origin all become facets of a unique Nairobi character.
The city has not lost its sense of the past, with an excellent museum and it’s the historical home of Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa open to visitors.
According to the site, the top sights include the Karen Blixen Museum, Giraffe Centre and Nairobi National Park which has black rhinos.
On accommodation, TripAdvisor notes favourable rates at most hotels, the cost being about £80 (Sh11,127) per night.
In 2015, a survey by international audit and advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said that Nairobi residents had the fastest growing spending in entertainment in Africa underlining rising disposable income in the city.
PwC placed Nairobi’s current 12.5 per cent growth in entertainment and media expenditure was expected to continue up to 2018 as the middle class had seek to catch up on many of the products and services that urban dwellers in developed countries had long enjoyed.
Nairobians topped in discretionary spending for technology and homes then came second in prioritising books, movies, and games.