In the end, the outcome of the tourist season on the Kenyan coast will turn out to be more than positive for the sector, for the local population, and last but not least, for the Italian business community, which, especially in Watamu and Malindi, is finally having the satisfaction of seeing the arrivals, departures, and stays of tourists of all kinds lengthen: not just semi-residents, not just 'all-inclusive package' tourists, not just Italians and not just Europeans.
All this is certainly part of the revival of a country that, after the pandemic, is going through a peculiar period, of contradictions but also of positive thrusts. The rejuvenation of the clientele, in celebrated resorts such as Watamu, Diani, Lamu and the take-off Kilifi, is contrasted by the Malindi of the second and third age and Mombasa with its holiday appendages Nyali, Bamburi and Bombolulu for families and local tourism. But ultimately the coast, seen as a unique destination, is a place for all that has few equals not only on the African continent. Its proximity to wildlife parks with animals, its proximity to natural attractions such as forests and canyons, its navigable creeks among mangroves and still intact vegetation, make the five hundred kilometres from the Tanzanian border to the Somali border (let us always keep a few handfuls of kilometres to avoid, after the Lamu archipelago) all worth discovering.

Contradictions, we said: there are still plenty of them. For example, the development of Watamu, now considered one of the top destinations of international tourism in Africa and the most serious alternative to Zanzibar, in East Africa, is still not sustainable enough: if the town has grown twenty times in as many years, the electricity and water supply, for example, have remained more or less the same, with problems that one can imagine. Just as it is unthinkable for a resort that attracts thousands of visitors, and no longer for a few weeks a year, that there is no organised hospital, no ambulance, no fire station.
Services that Malindi has inherited from the last century and that in any case do not always work at their best, and if they do work, it is because there is less of a load of people concentrated in the hospitality area, even though the town has expanded and, with its suburbs, has come to exceed 100 thousand inhabitants. And in this space, for once, we avoid mentioning the decades-long saga of the international airport. Rather, we should point out once again the lack of Nairobi-Malindi flights, which, moreover, drive up prices.

The contradictions have also 'attacked' the island of Lamu, which for some time now has fortunately been very quiet from the security point of view and more frequented also because of the less distrustful approach of the international institutions towards its citizens. However, after the construction of the port, which is still minimally used and always at risk of becoming an eco-block, progress has peeped into Kenya's 'Islamic Venice', which for a thousand years only had sailboats and donkeys as means of transport.
Since the last election, unfortunately, motorbikes have been running around offering the 'boda boda' service that was reserved for bicycles and donkeys, and now there is the risk of tuk-tuks arriving as well.
On the other hand, the well-kept district of Shela and the paradisiacal island of Manda, are super popular with quality, conscious and environmentally friendly tourism.

What about new-entry Kilifi? The capital of the county of the same name is experiencing a period of expansion and the new activities that have already sprung up, which are also very much linked to young people and their entertainment, but also to the good relationship with the environment and international destinations with festivals, initiatives and connections that bode well for the future. The New Year's Eve event 'Beneath the baobab' is a landmark that attracts thousands of people every year and consequently keeps many of them coming back, who are often young entrepreneurs or people who decide to change their lives, to do smart work from there, and the word of mouth no longer stops.
It was also a good season for Diani, which, on the other hand, had to deal with several disputes concerning land, which also led to unpleasant episodes of hotels being demolished or partially 'occupied' by neighbours, with bulldozers and workers, while tourists were staying there, or lawsuits between former owners of resorts that resulted (in the case of the Pinewood) in fictitious robberies to frighten off guests and tour operators, real attacks with very specific principals that are still being investigated.

In short, Africa is Africa even if Kenya attracts and in the end, what matters is that the holiday is almost always wonderful and above expectations. So much so that the percentage of 'repeaters' is always among the highest in the world.
Now we are waiting for the icing on the cake (or the mango cube on the mandazi, to swahilize the saying) of the Easter week, which could close this season on a high note and allow, as happened with satisfaction in the nineties, the owners of tourist activities to close a few months, rest and renew their businesses.
And who knows, maybe even the recovery of more taxes by the county and the government will not allow and instil the will in the administrators to make the coast more sustainable and even more desirable, without always being content to live on the laurels of an aura and a beauty for which they are only minimally responsible.