The largest conference centre in Malindi – the largest town in Kenya’s Kilifi County – is in its final stages of construction and expected to open soon. The conference centre, which can hold up to 500 people, will be a short 15-minute drive away from Malindi International Airport, and will open the region up to conference tourism, which was previously being retained by nearby Mombasa and Kwale County. Conferencing tourism will be a boost to the Malindi economy, which already brings in leisure and beach tourism, offering business travellers to the area a new option. Direct charter flights between Europe and Malindi are in talks, which will further add to the new conference centre’s appeal to the international business community.