Kilimanjaro tourism hit by ‘Cheryl Cole Effect’

Public interest in climbing Kilimanjaro has soared to 12 times previous levels according to the world's leading responsible holiday company, responsibletravel.com.

The 1225% increase in enquiries for the company's Kilimanjaro holiday collection for the first two weeks of March compared with the same period last year comes in the wake of publicity surrounding the recent celebrity Kilimanjaro challenge in aid of Comic Relief in the UK.

The most popular day for enquiries was yesterday - Thursday 12 March - the same day that a documentary of the celebrities' challenge was shown on television in the UK.

Justin Francis, MD responsibletravel.com said:

"It's great to see this increase in interest surrounding trips to Kilimanjaro. Tanzania is a fantastic destination with so much to offer. As well as having the highest mountain in Africa it has beautiful coastlines and incredible game reserves. It is also one of the world's poorest nations. Tourism is an important revenue earner for the country so it's important to ensure as much of the money from your trip as possible remains in the destination . My advice for those inspired to climb Kilimanjaro would be to choose an organisation that truly benefits local communities and local projects, and one that has high standards when it comes to porter welfare."

responsibletravel.com has 22 Kilimanjaro climbing trips , including one from Charity Challenge, the company responsible for organising the Comic Relief Climb.

See responsibletravel.com/Kilimanjaro.