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visitor arrivals followed by United States with 107,842 arrivals. Italy and
Germany took third and fourth positions at 87,694 and 63,011. France took
the fi fth position with 50,039 visitors. Asian markets are also growing in
importance due to aggressive marketing by the government. For example,
about 47,611 arrivals came from India followed by China (28,480) and UAE
(14,874) in 2010 (RoK 2011).
Despite the remarkable growth recorded by Kenya's tourism industry as
a whole, the country's Vision 2030 tourism goals are far from being achieved.
The country's Vision 2030 tourism goals include:
1. To quadruple tourism's GDP contribution to more than KShs. 200
billion.
2. To raise international visitor arrivals from 1.6 million in 2006 to 3
million in 2012.
3. To increase the number of beds from the current 40,000 to about 65,000.
One way of achieving the Vision 2030 Tourism Goals is by developing
new forms of tourism such as mountain tourism especially in the era of
climate change. This would help in diversifying the tourism sector which,
for a long time has been dominated by wildlife and beach tourism (Irandu
2004a).
Development of Mountain Tourism in Kenya
Today, mountain tourism represents an important market segment of
global tourism industry (Maroudas et al. 2004). Mountain tourism involves
climbing mountains, mainly as a form of recreational activity. Mountain
climbing is a popular tourist activity worldwide especially where hills are
high enough to provide a challenge to participants. Jenik (1997) contends
that climbers' rewards include physical exertion, the satisfaction of
overcoming challenges by working as a team, the thrill of reaching a summit
and the magnifi cent view from the mountain top. Other forms of mountain
tourism include cultural tourism and ecotourism (Maroudas et al. 2004).
In Kenya mountain (alpine) tourism is only partly developed and a
sustainable approach to its development is required (Kenya Wild Service
1990). This would ensure that visitor needs are satisfi ed while at the same
time maintaining the capacity of the natural resources to provide long
term benefi ts and meeting goals of social equity and environmental quality
(Jenik 1997).
Mount Kenya the second highest peak in Africa (5,199 m) after Mt.
Kilimanjaro is an extinct volcano which last erupted about three million
years ago (KWS 2011). In April 1978 the area was designated a UNESCO
Biosphere Reserve (UNEP 1998), making Mt. Kenya one of the 140 such
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