Astrotourism: no requiem for meaningful travel

              © PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural. ISSN 1695-7121
Vol. 12 N.o 4. Págs. 663-671. 2014
www .pasosonline.org
* Ulysses Foundation; E­‑mail:
president@ulyssesfoundation.org
** Starlight Initiative, E­‑mail:
c.marin@unescocan.org
*** The Tourism Intelligence Forum, E­‑mail:
jafari@thetourismforum.com
Abstract: Astrotourism is an activity of travelers wishing to use the natural resource of well­‑kept
night-scapes
for astronomy­‑related
leisure and knowledge. This practice has increased in popularity during the
past few years, adding value to offbeat tourism destinations offering high quality night skies and astronomi-cal
or archaeoastronomical heritage. Astrotourism initiatives contribute to the dissemination of knowledge
and human capital formation, both among the visitors and within the host community. Therefore, it can
act as a potential instrument for development. The best destinations for astrotourism have very special
characteristics, which makes for a likely favorable strategic positioning in domestic and even international
markets. However, astrotourism consumers demand high knowledge content and excellent quality in their
visits. This requires a professional approach to resource use and conservation, product development, and
adequate provision of ancillary services in the destination. A sophisticated tourism policy and governance is
a must for successful launch and operation of astrotourism.
Keywords: Astrotourism, scientific tourism, human capital, natural and cultural heritage, tourism policy,
governance.
Astroturismo: No réquiem por un turismo con significado
Resumen: El astroturismo, entendido como actividad lúdico­‑científica,
ha crecido considerablemente en los
últimos años. Se han puesto en valor importantes recursos naturales y culturales vinculados a la buena con-servación
de paisajes y patrimonios en el ámbito de la astronomía. Su práctica contribuye a la diseminación
científica y la formación de capital humano, tanto entre los turistas usuarios como en las comunidades an-fitrionas,
por lo que puede contribuir al desarrollo. Los destinos turísticos con posibilidades para su articu-lación
tienen características singulares, lo que permite un buen posicionamiento en los mercados, incluso a
nivel internacional. Sin embargo, las exigencias de contenido en conocimiento y de calidad de los productos
de astroturismo son altas, por lo que es recomendable un planteamiento profesional de esta actividad, valo-rando
adecuadamente la estructura de factores, productos y servicios soporte del destino turístico consid-erado,
y las medidas de política turística y gobernanza necesarias para su buen lanzamiento y desarrollo.
Palabras Clave: Astroturismo, turismo científico, capital humano, patrimonio cultural y natural, política
turística, gobernanza.
Astrotourism: No Requiem for Meaningful Travel
Eduardo Fayos­‑Solá*
Ulysses Foundation
Cipriano Marín**
Starlight Initiative
Jafar Jafari***
The Tourism Intelligence Forum
Eduardo Fayos­‑Solá,
Cipriano Marín, Jafar Jafari
PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural. 12 (4). 2014 ISSN 1695-7121
664 Astrotourism: No Requiem for Meaningful Travel
1. Introduction
Even as the primogenial mass travel paradigm
shows resilience, and renewed impetus, new kinds
of tourism have emerged since the start of the 21st
century. More educated and seasoned travelers
are demanding knowledge­‑rich
experiences, and
the industry perceives the need for specialization
as an element of competitiveness. There is also a
heightened feeling for community participation, and
tourism may be at the dawn of an era of greater
rationality and real contribution to the needs of
human development. Hence, in this context and in
the face of growing competition among destinations,
the archetypical foundation resources for tourism,
natural and cultural factors, are subject to increasing
pressure to offer meaningful experiences. All in all,
two key human urges must be properly addressed
in destinations: the life drive, eros, including the
appetite for content, enjoyment, sharing, and sa-tisfaction,
and the knowledge drive, epistemophilia,
including the compulsion for information, education,
understanding and new solutions to deep existen-tial
questions. Different emphases on these two
different urges/drives mark the distinction between
“traditional/mass” (psychocentric) tourists and new
“voyageur/explorer” (allocentric) tourists (Plog, 1974;
Litvin, 2006; Valsiner, 2013: 5­‑6)
as well as amidst
the corresponding destinations of choice.
In this framework, the concept of astrotourism is
acquiring new meanings and insights (Jafari, 2007),
from the original significance of “leisure activities of
travelers paying to fly into space for recreation”, to
“tourism using the natural resource of unpolluted
night skies, and appropriate scientific knowled-ge
for astronomical, cultural or environmental
activities” (Fayos­‑Solà
and Marín, 2009:5). The
StarLight Declaration states that “[astrotourism]…
opens up unsuspected possibilities for cooperation
among tourism stakeholders, local communities,
and scientific institutions” (Jafari, Fayos­‑Solà,
and
Marin (2007:4). In a broad sense, astrotourism now
focuses on travelling for the purpose of astronomy
related purposes or simply doing amateur astro-nomy
activities during the journeys. Additionally,
some cultural resources, including archaeological
sites at Stonehenge, Chichen Itzá, Giza, Chankillo,
Mesa Verde, Persepolis, Almendres, Gochang or
Chaco Canyon, have also proven to have an as-trotourism
potential, enabling the development
of archaeoastronomy experiences for the general
public, as well as offering research opportunities for
specialists (Fayos­‑Solà,
Marín, and Rashidi, 2014).
Similar arguments can be made for other scientific
resources of physics and astrophysics, including
observatories, laboratories, advanced technology
installations and science museums, as well as
even for knowledge itself (Burtnyk, 2000; Marin,
Wainscoat, and Fayos­‑Solà,
2010; Fayos­‑Solà
and
Jafari, 2010; Weaver, 2011; Kossack, 2013).
This evolution of astroturism is of special rele-vance
at a time when the dissemination of science
and scientific ethics and methodology may be the
key to prosperity and the wellbeing of contempo-rary
societies (UNESCO, 1999, 2002; ESC, 2013;
European Commission, 2014), as well as the way
to avoid or mitigate the effects of climate change
and other human­‑
and nature­‑caused
disasters
(Bunde, Kropp, and Schellnhuber, 2002; Smolin,
2013: 217­‑30).
It can be argued that tourism has
often internalized 19th century thinking, in adopting
a rather arbitrary separation between “nature”
and “human­‑made”
experiences. Some types of
tourism would hence be based on natural resources,
while others are artificial constructs. Similarly,
there would be poorly designed destinations and
products, causing profound negative impacts on
natural environments (as well as on sociocultural
systems), while other destinations and experiences
would belong in a “sustainable tourism” category,
minimizing adverse effects.
Figure 1
© Antonio González Hernández.
But the distinction between a supposedly pristi-ne
natural world and the sphere of human activities
has ceased to be useful, both in society at large and
in tourism. It is high time to recognize that all of
PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural. 12 (4). 2014 ISSN 1695-7121
Eduardo Fayos­‑Solá,
Cipriano Marín, Jafar Jafari 665
mankind’s activities, tourism included, take place
in the midst of nature, and do impact on natural
resources and ecosystems. The question is whether
tourism can contribute both to the long­‑term
equi-librium
of these ecosystems and simultaneously to
community development, and how this process can
be guided with proper mobilization of institutions,
policies, and human capital.
It is at this point when the concept and practice
of astrotourism can become extremely relevant.
Astrotourism is probably one of the most effective
ways to bring tourism and tourists closer to nature
for a comprehension of the physical world systems
and dynamics. It serves both the purpose of mea-ningful
tourism (contributing to the dissemination
of scientific values and human capital formation)
and to the conservation of essential resources,
such as unpolluted nightscapes, as well as to host
communities’ appreciation of conservation policies
(institutional capital development). Astrotourism
can hence become a key constituent of tourism
as an instrument for development (Fayos­‑Solà,
Alvarez, and Cooper, 2014).
2. New resources and meanings
Astrotourism epitomizes the tendencies towards
more meaningful tourism experiences, based on
conservation of natural resources, knowledge, and
science, potentially enriching the traveler and the
host communities. In the recent years, astrotourism
has gained its pace in the list of tourism motivations
and thus it should not be taken lightly. However, its
progress will continue to depend on its professional
integration into advanced destination management
and governance systems.
Figure 2
© Richard Wainscoat.
From a demand perspective, astrotourism clien-teles
are quite varied, ranging from the general
public to amateur and even professional astrono-mers.
Of course this ample spectrum of customers
requires competent provisions from both destina-tions
and entrepreneurial initiatives. In parallel,
the scientific community has also been interested in
astrotourism, as a way to appeal to young scientists
and amateurs, a means to disseminate knowledge,
and a vehicle to engage the understanding and
approval of taxpayers, donors, and investors. In a
historical perspective, amateur astronomy has its
origins in the late 19th century, at a time when in-creased
professionalization of astronomers required
a differentiation of practitioners’ types, while “hard
core” astronomy could still continue to benefit from
non­‑professional
contributors widespread around
the globe. Actually, amateurs and “astronomical
societies” have pre­‑dated
the concept and practice
of astrotourism, and greatly assisted in its recent
consolidation. The popularity of amateur astronomy
and increasingly affordable equipment provide a
best case and scenario for the dissemination of
scientific ethic and method beyond the laboratory
or observatory walls (Kannappan, 2001). Interest
in astronomy increased with the success of sci­‑fi
literature (from Jules Verne and H.G. Wells
onwards), the popular appeal of scientific pioneers,
such as Percival Lowell, and then with the rapid
advances of space exploration technology from
the 1950s. It reached a high with the first human
space flights in the 1960s, culminating with the
successful landing on the moon in 1969. Then, as
the rationalist values and scientific progress vision
of the post­‑war
era began to vanish in US society
by the 1970s, so did passion for the space program
in general and space exploration in particular.
Astrotourism had to wait for a new generation
of citizens, concerned with the great dilemmas of
the 21st century, and interested afresh in scientific
answers to progress and development.
Additionally, when adopting a supply view-point,
not all locations are apt to become a player
in astrotourism’s growing offer, similar to other
natural resource­‑based
tourism destinations and
experiences, The main resource for astrotourism
is a high quality night sky, but this is very sensi-tive
to atmospheric conditions and light pollution.
Atmospheric conditions are not controllable, and
depend on the site chosen and weather develpment
during the night. The astronomical term “seeing”
refers to absence of turbulence. Good seeing, with
little or no blurring and twinkling of astronomical
objects, means that a magnification of 400­‑500x
will
be possible with a good 10 inch (25 cm) aperture
telescope. “Extinction” (lack of air “transparency”)
refers to other causes of light degradation when
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666 Astrotourism: No Requiem for Meaningful Travel
passing through the atmosphere and colliding with
atoms, molecules, droplets of water, dust, and more.
It is hence clear that astrotourism locations with
best “seeing” and “transparency” are to be preferred,
which constitutes a primary filter for potential sites.
This is an advantage for locations with unpolluted
and diaphanous night skies, having specific resour-ce,
service, and product offerings. These include
national/regional parks, unique astronomical or
archaeoastronomical sites and events, as well as
astronomical observatories. As it turns out, many of
these astrotourism potential sites of excellence are
at high elevation, away from sources of atmospheric
contamination, and in rather dry areas. This often
puts them geographically apart from traditional
destinations, and provides unheard­‑of
opportunities
for out­‑of­‑the­‑beaten­‑track
host communities.
However, availability of primary resources
does not imply that the tourism activity will be
successful. It has been shown (Fayos­‑Solà,
and
Alvarez, 2014) that measures must be taken to
preserve the resources from undesirable impacts
affecting sustainability, as well as ensuring that
additional supporting services contribute to the
tourism products’ marketability, competitiveness,
and improvement of community development in the
destination. In this context, light pollution is perhaps
the main impediment when considering resource
conservation policies at an astrotourism site.
As already discussed, astrotourism entails
stargazing locations, and often heritage sites,
observatories, or natural dark­‑sky
areas of
outstanding beauty. The common condition is to
have a clear dark sky to see astronomical objects.
However, dark skies are becoming a scarce re-source
as light pollution increases. Humankind
has for millennia admired the spectacle of the
night skies, speculated, dreamed, and on occasion
built scientific theories and actual practice such
as agriculture on these theories. Yet, today, for the
first time in human history, a majority of celestial
objects can no longer be seen from cities and wide
surrounding areas. Up to the 1970s, many major
cities in Europe, North America, and the rest of
the globe had an observatory. These observatories
conducted research on various scales, but were in
general also open regularly for visits, thus actively
engaging the public. Good examples, still existing,
of these·historical astronomic sites in urban areas
are the Royal Observatory in Greenwich (UK), and
the Griffith and Lowell Observatories (USA) among
many other. However, this practice has ended in
most sites, partly because of lesser interest from the
public, but mainly due to increased light pollution
in and around urban locations (Spennemann, 2008).
Nowadays, countries such as Chile, South Africa,
Portugal, Canada, Namibia, New Zealand, Spain,
and the United States, as well as specific regions
like La Palma, Alqueva, Baja California, La Serena,
Antofagasta, Tekapo, Western Australia or Hawaii,
have invested in protected “StarLight” and “Dark Sky”
areas, often through astronomical associations and
astrotourism startups (Rashidi, 2012; Collison and
Kevin, 2013; Fayos­‑Solà
et al, 2015). Light pollution
in cities has essentially given rise to the modern
phenomenon of astrotourism. In order to experience
the night sky and to be able to see the fainter celes-tial
objects, the vast majority of urbanized people
in developed countries have to travel to locations
sufficiently far away from the built­‑up
areas.
All in all, harnessing this resource depends on
the ability to abate light pollution. The combination
of increased awareness of the need to minimize
impacts of light pollution, a growing urgency to
promote energy efficiency, and a better appreciation
by tourists and residents of the associated benefits,
are premises for the development of astrotourism
destinations. Reducing light pollution and adopting
intelligent lighting options are not only sine­‑qua­‑non
conditions to recover the starry sky dimension
as a landscape for tourism; they also suppose a
smart choice, bringing energy savings, improved
health, and other social and economic benefits.
Nevertheless, a cloudless, transparent, “good
seeing”, and light pollution free night sky is but the
main resource of astrotourism. Astronomical heritage
­‑­‑including
both cultural heritage and cultural lands-capes
relating to the sky— is another, and it must be
recognized as a vital component of heritage in general,
as well as an important resource for astrotourism and
archaeoastrotourism. For societies in the past, the
nightscape was a prominent and immutable part of
the observed surroundings, its repeated cycles helping
to regulate human activity as people strove to make
sense of their world and keep their actions in harmony
with the cosmos as they perceived it (Ruggles, 2009).
Along this line, UNESCO’s (2014) thematic initiative,
“Astronomy and World Heritage”, shows the close
relationship between the observation of the firmament
and many existing heritage tourism sites, cultural
landscapes, and monuments which were reference
coordinates of past civilisations. They are places of
mystery and wisdom based on the “knowledge of the
stars” (Marin, 2009). The relevance of these sites, the
commemoration of key dates in ancient calendars, and
other intangible and oral manifestations are a still
largely untapped resource for cultural­‑scientific
event
astrotourism. Thus, the cultural heritage associated
with astronomy is also an important resource for
astrotourism. Great opportunities arise for many
destinations where heritage is connected with astro-nomy,
often with intangible and oral manifestations
(Cotte and Ruggles, 2010).
PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural. 12 (4). 2014 ISSN 1695-7121
Eduardo Fayos­‑Solá,
Cipriano Marín, Jafar Jafari 667
However, pristine nightscapes and cultural
heritage sites do not exhaust the list of potential
resources for astrotourism. The fact is that scientific
and cultural knowledge is the ultimate resource.
Hence, to the list of worldclass possible sites for
amateur astronomical observation, and for inter-pretation
of archaeological remains, other tangible
and intangible, natural, cultural, and built resources
must also be considered. In the tangible category
belong the facilities for visits to the existing large
observatories, including those in Hawaii, northern
Chile, and the Canary Islands, as well as some
specialized themeparks, such as NASA’s Kennedy
Space Center in the United States, Space World in
Japan, or Space City and Futuroscope in France.
Then, in the intangible category there is a growing
number of astronomical events and celebrations,
not to forget the myriad of smaller activities for the
dissemination of astronomical knowledge organized,
both outdoors and indoors, by universities, cultural
groups, and even travel entrepreneurs.
Figure 3
© Fuerteventura Starlight Biospehere Reserve
3. Astrotourism destinations: Policy and
governance
Somehow mimicking initial entrepreneurial
behaviour in the 1950s and 60s, elementary
astrotourism products and experiences have
certainly proliferated in the last few years, often
in a spontaneous manner. Amateurs, and even
professional astronomers, sometimes jointly with
tourism operators, have launched astrotourism
ventures. Frequently, these scientific­‑led
initiatives
have been based on a solid knowledge foundation,
although with little grasp of tourism markets. But
the opposite has also occurred: small, medium and
large tourism entrepreneurs, aiming for different
and “exciting” new products, setting their intents
on astrotourism with scanty scientific groundwork.
The fact is that for astrotourism to thrive, it needs
a solid professional approach to both destination and
product management. Gone are the times when the
positioning of a destination could be improvised, and
products “invented” by private concerns or public
bodies. Destination management, as well as tourism
policy and governance, have developed solid strategic
and operational procedures. These can only be ignored
at great risk for community development and business
success (Muñoz, Fuentes and Fayos­‑Solà,
2013; Fayos,
Solà, Alvarez, and Cooper, 2014).
An astrotourism destination can be positioned as
such in the markets only after careful consideration
of all options. The right mix of resources, support
services, and high quality astrotourism products
must be there or be developed in time. A three step
analysis and policy process consisting of a Green Book
of the destination, a White Paper of strategic deci-sionmaking,
and a Tourism Policy Plan delineating
different actions is recommended (UNWTO, 2010;
Fayos­‑Solà
and Alvarez, 2014) in order to systematize
the stages of a tourism policy and governance plan..
In the Green Paper stage, a detailed inventory of the
destination resources is prepared to study the feasi-bility
of a positioning based on astrotourism capacity.
This inventory may be preliminarily extended to
cover existing astrotourism products and support
services as well, following a “FAS model methodology”
(Fayos­‑Solà,
Fuentes, and Muñoz, 2014). Relevant
destination stakeholders are identified and called
upon to examine the possibilities. An astrotourism
main postioning is feasible if some astrotourism
products and support services are already operating,
and the astrotourism resources discussed above
(quality of the night skies and nocturnal landscapes,
archaeoastrotourism heritage, scientific facilities,
knowledge dissemination capabilities, etc.) exist
and clearly predominate over other resources. If this
is not the case, there is still the prospect of simply
having astrotourism as a substantial product in
the destination’s portfolio, with the possibility of
consolidating a stronger positioning further into the
future. In any case, the compatibility of astrotourism
initiatives with other tourism products in the des-tination
must be carefully evaluated at this stage.
After a first governance agreement is established
among stakeholders favouring an astrotourism
positioning and/or operations, a White Paper stage
may follow, with focus on the right mix of resources,
support services, and products necessary to launch
this proposal. This stage must be used to analyse
the competitiveness and robustness of the destina-tion
regarding astrotourism, as well as the trends
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668 Astrotourism: No Requiem for Meaningful Travel
affecting its positioning, following the classic SWOT
(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats)
and PESTEL (political, economic, sociocultural,
technological, environmental, and legal scenarios)
analyses to complete both an internal and external
evaluation of the area for astrotourism activity.
The comparative and competitive advantages, the
policy actions needed, and thus the advisability of
an astrotourism positioning (or simply of developing
a range of products in this category) should be
apparent by the end of this stage.
When a final decision has been reached to de-velop
an astrotourism destination and/or launch
important products and experiences of this type, a
destination’s Tourism Policy Plan must be prepared
(or adapted if already existing) to advance towards
actual performance. Such a plan is a structured
set of programmes to analyse market conditions,
attract visitors, and satisfy their and the resident’s
needs. It must also produce crucial feedback for
further strategic and operational developments.
The usual framework for the Tourism Policy Plan
consists of several programmes:
Data. This programme is designed to produce a
vital and continuous flow of information regarding
all the components of the destination’s astrotourism
operations. This information concerns both demand
and supply factors, as well as dynamic elements
respecting trends and innovation.
Sustainability. Actions within this programme’s
reach refer to the conservation of resources, such
as the quality of the nightscapes and the rest of
natural and cultural factors of the destination. They
concern both an analytical stage, including impact
appraisal, and policy formulations. These latter
involve establishing carrying capacity indicators,
and enacting corrective provisions for light pollution
abatement. Policy measures must also address
other negative impacts, as well as establish norms
to control and curb other threats to the quality of
the resources.
Knowledge. This refers to the set of actions
fostering the creation and enhancement of human
capital. This programme concerns the needs of the
supply side (scientific content and interpretation of
astrotourism resources and products, education and
training of providers and guides, appropriateness of
facilities, etc.). It also involves the actual delivery
of tangible experiences and interpreted knowledge
to tourists, maximizing the intended scientific
content, and dissemination of the astrotourism
experiences.
Quality and Excellence. Actions in this program-me
concern the satisfaction of the stakeholders
in the astrotourism destination, involving both
tourists and providers. It implies the creation of
quality standards and subsequent certification
processes, encompassing most of the other pro-grammes
in the tourism policy plan. Its actions
reach not only the final astrotourism products
on offer, but also matters of resource quality and
conservation, as well as the availability and level
of support services.
Product and Promotion. This programme
groups all processes relating to the product and
promotion mix for the attraction of visitors and
expectative creation, perception management,
and final satisfaction, being closely linked to the
quality and excellence programme. It includes the
production, communication, support, distribution,
pricing, and ex­‑post
assistance of the astrotourism
experiences offered at the destination, as well as
other ancillary products and services. It is a key
programme both in respect of expectative creation
and subsequent satisfaction, and impinges directly
on perceived quality.
Innovation. This is a key tourism policy pro-gramme
for astrotourism destinations. It refers to
not only innovation in the delivery of the tourism
experience, but also actual stakeholder involve-ment.
The purpose of the experience itself is to
commit to the dissemination and application of
knowledge, contributing to readiness for innovation
in the tourism audiences themselves. Thus, policy
action in this area must address the content of
the astrotourism products and make sure they
keep in pace with scientific, technological, and
governance advances.
Cooperation and Governance. Tourism gover-nance
goes beyond a mere programme in a policy
plan, but it is still important to make explicit the
provisions for collaboration among the agents in
the destination and with those external. These
include scientific and technological institutions in
general, astronomy research centres in particular,
and also the stakeholders and intermediaries in
tourism markets. There is a quite broad misunders-tanding,
especially in European, South American,
and African tourism destinations, that governance
invokes specifically governments. But this is not
the case, especially when referring to common pool
resources (Ostrom, 1990, 2009; Poteete, Janssen,
and Ostrom, 2010), as it is very often the case in the
instance of astrotourism. While governments have
played a large role in the tourism of these areas,
it is widely admitted nowadays that the time has
come for inclusive governance of the destinations,
with ample involvement of stakeholders from the
public and private sector as well as from civil
society (De Bruyn, and Fernández, 2012). This
is especially relevant in the case of astrotourism,
because of the need for broad participation in the
upkeep of resources, and the far­‑reaching
benefits
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Eduardo Fayos­‑Solá,
Cipriano Marín, Jafar Jafari 669
in knowledge dissemination for both visitors and
residents.
Figure 4
© Babak Tafreshi
4. Conclusion
Astrotourism has expanded over the last few
years, as the scientific community disseminates its
objectives, knowledge, and ethics through society at
large, and tourism entrepreneurs respond to incre-asing
demand for meaningful tourism experiences.
The specific resources and factors decisive for
astrotourism experiences are often quite different
from those in other tourism subsectors and niches.
The most important resource for astrotourism is
clear night skies with astronomical high “seeing”
and low “extinction”. Other relevant resources are
low light pollution, and scientific knowledge and
facilities. This often sets astrotourism optimal
destinations apart from other committed to mass
tourism. It supposes an opportunity for offbeat
host communities, geographically outside more
traditional tourism havens.
Similarly, astrotourism diverges from more
conventional forms of tourism both from the de-mand
and supply perspectives..For tourists, it
entails a knowledge­‑rich
experience, combining the
pleasures of unspoiled sites, enlightened company,
and personal tangible experiences with learning,
knowing, and understanding the observable
surroundings at large. This can be an excellent
investment for the time and money dedicated to
tourism. For the host communities, it signifies a
positive reputation, often beyond local reaches,
additional edutainment and scientific facilities,
motivation and implication of many stakeholders,
and a notorious positioning, optimizing appeal
chances in very competitive tourism markets.
Finally, for astronomy and the general scientific
community, it brings a unique chance to come
near ample publics, and to gain support regarding
science objectives, values, and financial needs. It
also supposes an excellent opportunity to make
these publics aware of the scientific viewpoints
regarding strategic issues, such as human capital
formation, good governance, and environmental
conservation (including the need to control light
pollution). These possibilities set astrotourism in
the realm of new and more meaningful forms of
tourism, and opens up expectations of a tourism
industry contributing to progress in the 21st century.
However, these new forms of tourism require
sophisticated policy and governance approaches,
well above the spontaneous and improvised ways
and means of many nascent initiatives. Few des-tinations
can opt for astrotourism as their main
strategic positioning, and only selected astrotou-rism
entrepreneurships respond to real consumer
preferences and need of quality tourism. The urge
for fast profits, or even for well­‑intended
goals, does
not suffice to guarantee successful astrotourism
destinations and businesses.
Perhaps the most important starting requirement
for an astrotourism quest is applying state­‑of­‑the­‑art
know­‑how
to an inventory and analysis of the resour-ces
available. The key resources for astrotourism have
been reviewed in this paper, as well as the need to
systematize their appraisal. This done, conservation
of these resources becomes a central issue, which must
be tackled through the establishment of voluntary
or compulsory standards and norms, followed by
adequate programmes and actions.
Adequate governance proposals and decisions
from the outset are also important. It is erroneously
believed that tourism governance setups must
always be organized and conducted by government,
but this is not the case. Neither is the fundamen-talist
free­‑market
doctrine that a left­‑alone
private
sector will do. Astrotourism resources are usually a
clear­‑cut
case of a common pool resource, and it is
tailor­‑made
governance solutions which can be the
most effective and efficient to optimize resource use.
Finally, adoption of a Tourism Policy Plan, with
specific provisions for astrotourism is highly recom-mended.
This plan will usually include programmes
and actions for (i) data production and mining, (ii)
sustainability provisions, (iii) knowledge creation,
dissemination, and application, (iv) supervision of
quality and excellence of operations, (vi) product
formulation, promotion, and follow­‑up,
and (vii)
explicit arrangements for institutional cooperation
and governance.
Astrotourism is an emerging and promising
field for enjoyable and meaningful experiences
in contemporary tourism. It can enrich human
PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural. 12 (4). 2014 ISSN 1695-7121
670 Astrotourism: No Requiem for Meaningful Travel
capital both among the visiting publics and wi-thin
the host communities, while simultaneously
fostering the quest for scientific, technological,
and governance innovation in the institutional
fabric. Many of big ideas behind tourism as an
instrument for conservation, sustainability, and
development, among others, can be both studied
and implemented where astrotourism is foste-red
and practiced. It should be welcomed and
embraced as a harbinger of intelligent futures
for mankind.
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Recibido: 12/05/2014
Reenviado: 18/07/2014
Aceptado: 27/08/2014
Sometido a evaluación por pares anónimos
dourintour
À Descoberta
do Douro das
Quintas
Co-financiamento