Victoria Falls lodge among Africa’s best

Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls

A UNITED States magazine, Travel + Leisure, has named Victoria Falls Safari Lodge as the 5th top resort hotel in Africa, as Zimbabwe continues to make an impact on the tourism front.

Victoria Falls Safari Lodge is one of the many tourism facilities under the grand banner of leading hospitality group Africa Albida Tourism (AAT).

Travel + Leisure is a travel magazine based in New York with 4,8 million readers worldwide. It is published 12 times a year by Meredith Corporation. 

Its readers share their opinions of their travel experiences on the top hotels, resorts, cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines and hotels are rated on their facilities, location, service, food and overall value.

This is the ranking in which Victoria Falls Safari Lodge came 5th after La Residence in Franschhoek of South Africa, Beyond Mnemba Island of Zanzibar in Tanzania, Beyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge based in Namib-Naukluft National Park in Namibia and Birkenhead House, Hermanus also of South Africa, which ranked position 1 to 4 respectively.

The hotel based in the Zambezi National Park in the country’s prime resort town is the only Zimbabwean property that featured and scored 87,76 points for the month of July. AAT chief executive Mr Ross Kennedy said the group was thrilled to be among the best.

“Africa Albida Tourism is thrilled its flagship property Victoria Falls Safari Lodge has been named among Africa’s top five resort hotels by high profile US magazine, Travel +Leisure,” he said. 

“This accolade, coming in our 25th year of operating the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, is so rewarding for every member of the Africa Albida Tourism team. It speaks to our consistency, constant upgrades and enhancements, quality of service delivery and hospitality along with the dedication and commitment of every person involved.”

Mr Kennedy said the hospitality group was grateful to every traveller and client that has stayed at the hotel. 

The awards are among the world’s best and the most prestigious in the travel industry with readers being the judges. 

AAT also runs several other properties such as the Victoria Falls Safari Club and Victoria Falls Safari Suites and lodges. 

A few months ago, international holiday rental search engine, HomeToGo, also named Zimbabwe among the top 10 trending destinations, ranking number six for United Kingdom-based tourists. 

The search engine said the destinations were chosen based on the year-on-year increases in searches in January 2019 compared to January 2018.

The country also won an award for the most sustainable tourist destination at the International Tourism Bourse in Germany and was also voted as the third must-visit destination after Sri Lanka and Germany. National Geographic has also acknowledged the country as one of the prime tourist destinations in the world. — @ncubeleon

Source: Victoria Falls lodge among Africa’s best (31/07/19)