Kilimanjaro - the African Capital of Tourism award

October, 2021

The Afro-Asian Union awarded Kilimanjaro the African Capital of Tourism award for the Mountain tourism sector 2021 / 2022.
In a large ceremony attended by 13 East African Tourism Ministers and all members of the Tanzanian government, the Tanzanian Minister of Tourism received a shield and an award crowning Kilimanjaro as the capital of African tourism for the mountain tourism sector.
Dr. Hossam Darwish, President of the African-Asian Union, presented through the award ceremony how Kilimanjaro has been selected as the African tourism capital for the mountain and adventure tourism sector.

MOUNTAIN TOURISM

Mountain Tourism is a type of "tourism activity which takes place in a defined and limited geographical space such as hills or mountains with distinctive characteristics and attributes that are inherent to a specific landscape, topography, climate, biodiversity (flora and fauna), and the local community. It encompasses a broad range of outdoor leisure and sports activities".
Mountain tourism has a high potential to stimulate local economic growth and social change because of its complementarity with other economic activities, its contribution to GDP and job creation, and its capacity to promote the dispersal of demand in time (fight seasonality) and along a wider territory.

CLIMBING KILIMANJARO

Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and the tallest freestanding mountain in the world; it is one of the Seven Summits. The snow-capped peak of Africa is a dormant volcano and can be found inside the Kilimanjaro National Park of Tanzania
Mount Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano located in the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest single freestanding mountain above sea level in the world: 5,895 meters (19,341 ft.) above sea level and about 4,900 meters (16,100 ft.) above its plateau base. It is the highest volcano in Africa and the Eastern Hemisphere.

Kilimanjaro is the fourth most topographically prominent peak on Earth. It is part of Kilimanjaro National Park and is a major hiking and climbing destination. Because of its shrinking glaciers and ice fields, which are projected to disappear between 2025 and 2035, it has been the subject of many scientific studies.