AFRICA’S SPA ASSOCIATION PROMOTES WELLNESS TOURISM

As more Spa’s open across Eastern Africa and wellness tourism is on the increase, it is becoming increasingly important to have some form of quality control and certification process in place to ensure that local and international guests, who come with high expectations, actually get value for their money.

A recent article here about the Uzuri Spa at the Leopard Beach Resort & Spa went to show what level of sophistication has been reached in Kenya, and with leading hotel groups like Serena and Sarova, now joined by Kempinski which has just opened their own branded Spa, rolling out their own in-house creations, the trend at present seems unstoppable. Recently opened new lodges like Enashipai on Lake Naivasha in fact have entered the market by storm for the very fact that they have a top of the range Spa, besides the location and quality of services of course as a Spa alone does not make a property.

The Spa Association of Africa is the continent’s leading professional body under which quality Spa’s come together and which provides certification for members in line with an elaborate audit process.

‘The Spa & Wellness Association of Africa is an organization created to develop and maintain internationally recognized standards and education for the spa industry in Africa. The association works alongside tourism boards and operators to set quality standards and encourage education and preventive health measures within the spa, health and wellness industry’ informed Janine Shipra, who is a SWAA Board Member and its Vice Chair and who recently moved from the Uzuri Spa in Diani to Tanzania to prepare for the opening of several Spa’s. Spa’s seeking membership in SWAA are carefully vetted and given advice in case some areas are found in need of changes or improvements, and when finally the membership certificate is issued guests can be sure to enter a Spa which is worth being called a Spa by international standards and not, as has happened, find themselves in a so called Jua Kali outfit with glaring deficiencies in set up and application.

Run by a board of directors and supported by an Advisory Board which has injected added expertise into the organisation, is SWAA the authority right now in Eastern Africa and across the continent to give Spa users the certainty that they can expect value for their money. Meanwhile of course can tourists from abroad, as they do in more fancied destinations, book their wellness packages in advance with some of Kenya’s leading beach resorts like the Leopard Beach in Diani, the Whitesands along Bamburi and the Serena at Shanzu, and of course the already award winning Lion in the Sun, owned by Flavio Briattore, in Malindi. Time to visit, as Kenya still got what it takes to make for that holiday in a lifetime.