In the Stars

Look to the sky — and perhaps space — for your next unforgettable adventure.

BY BRANDON SCHULTZ

CELESTIAL SIGHTS: South Africa’s Leobo Observatory exterior (above) and observatory dome (below)

PHOTOS: © SCOTT DUNN

The summer of 2017 brought a great darkness to the United States. Americans united with a shared focus typically reserved for tragedy, but there was no sadness at this event. From the Northwest to the Southeast, a 70-mile-wide arc of night interrupted the daylight as a total solar eclipse enshrouded parts of the contiguous United States for the first time in 99 years. It was the first American eclipse of the social media age, and everyone wanted to be involved.

Hotels along the totality band sold out far in advance (years, in some cases), and those desperate to witness the roughly two-minute event even rented space in strangers’ backyards. Elsewhere, a record number of Americans viewed the eclipse electronically, with a University of Michigan poll estimating 88 percent of American adults watched in some capacity — more than any Super Bowl or even the moon landing. Americans rekindled their love affair with space and, wanting more, sparked a sharp rise in astrotourism.

Astrotourism once referred only to those who paid to enter space as a tourist but has since expanded to include just about any destination or program related to the skies, particularly at night. As interest continues to skyrocket, every player in the industry, from hotels and cruise ships to entire towns and cities, is clamoring to get in the game.

Around the globe, local municipalities are enacting ordinances to reduce light pollution by drastically reducing or even eliminating upward lighting. They encourage the use of warm-color lighting (yellow, orange and red) when light is needed in designated dark zones, preserving the darkness of the sky to such an extent the Milky Way galaxy is once again visible to the naked eye. Though the concept isn’t new (Flagstaff, Arizona, is credited with pioneering the movement as early as 1950), it’s only relatively recently become a tourism selling point. Combine events like the 2017 eclipse with the fact 80 percent of Americans live under too much light pollution to see the Milky Way, and you have a recipe for FOMO (fear of missing out) on darkness that is driving travelers to dark sky-designated parks and reserves in droves.

SKY WATCH: El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina (above); and Soneva Fushi’s Ever Soneva So Celestial Observatory, Maldives (below)

PHOTOS: © SCOTTDUNN

As dark sky protected zones become commonplace, brands find clientele requesting more specialized astrotourism experiences, leading to an increase of astronomers on hotel and cruise ship payrolls. Remote ranch resort Canyon of the Eagles in Burnet, Texas, opened the Eagle Eye Observatory and employs an astronomer to offer guided use of the sliding-roof facility that opens to allow high-powered telescopes and other high-tech instruments unfettered access to the night sky. The observatory opens nightly, and the astronomer, the property’s only live-in employee other than the resort’s president, keeps the facility open from dusk until the last visitor runs out of questions. It’s one of the property’s most popular amenities.

Even without observatories, hotels and resorts in unique locations take advantage of clear skies by implementing regular astronomy programs, like the Hyatt Regency Maui’s Tour of the Stars. Offered nightly, the program is led by a NASA Ambassador who teaches guests to identify celestial bodies first with the naked eye, then with astronomy binoculars and, finally, with a 14-inch reflector telescope. A more intimate Romance Tour includes chocolate and sparkling wine later in the evening, speaking to the growing demand for more personalized experiences not unique to astrotourism but on the rise in travel as a whole.

As Ingrid Asoni, founder, Consciously Connected Tours, notes, “People as a whole are traveling more and more with purpose, wanting to experience things that go far beyond themselves.”

It’s part of the experiential travel movement, where travelers aren’t just looking for a beautiful destination but life experiences and involvement in local communities. Asoni organizes tours to exotic locales like Namibia, Jordan and Morocco, noting the increase in demand for connection to the skies comes from everyday travelers.

“Those who have the greatest interest for trips like these aren’t science buffs looking to tick off the destination on the bucket list. More often than not, they’re everyday travelers looking for something more meaningful and fulfilling,” she says. They’re looking to connect the universe to their individual lives and are searching for that unique experience that will bring the two closer together.

John Spence, president, luxury tour operator Scott Dunn, which tailors individualized itineraries for well-heeled travelers with specific interests, similarly notices the definition of luxury travel is changing in ways that make experiences like astrotourism programs more desirable than high thread counts and plush bathrobes.

“Travelers want exclusive and unique experiences. It’s not about 5-star luxury with gold taps now but, instead, the luxury of spending quality moments with loved ones doing unforgettable activities,” he says.

Spence saw bookings for astro-experiences, as he calls them, triple in the past four years alone. This year, Scott Dunn will offer astrocentric tours of Argentina, which will see its own total solar eclipse in July. Eclipse aside, the company already offers astro-experience tours in Argentina because of its otherworldly landscapes and crystal-clear skies perfect for witnessing countless stars. It also operates in similarly perfect astro-touristic environments like Chile, the Maldives and Iceland, where surreal landscapes add to the drama.

OTHERWORLDLY: The moon (above) and a shooting star (middle) in the Atacama Desert, Chile; and the aurora borealis (bottom)

PHOTOS: © SCOTT DUNN

And some will go even further. Since the 2017 eclipse, Adventure Life, a tour operator based in Missoula, Montana, experienced increased demand for journeys to Antarctica. In December 2021 the continent will experience a total solar eclipse, and many are eager to witness it in this most mysterious of lands, especially at a time when it is otherwise daylight 24 hours a day.

But it’s not all about eclipses and stargazing. Tourism to Alaska rose 30 percent over the past decade, mostly driven by aurora viewing. Auroras, the naturally occurring electrical phenomena of colorful light streams dancing in the night sky — also known as the northern lights — proved popular since the dawn of travel, but the rise in astrotourism brings them back to the top of many bucket lists. Alaska Photo Treks, a photography-driven tour operator in Anchorage, finds aurora hunting currently accounts for 60 percent of its business.

Meanwhile, Borealis Base Camp, opened in late 2017 just 30 minutes outside of Fairbanks, is entirely aurora-driven, offering accommodation in the form of luxury “igloos” with glass ceilings for ultimate access to the awe-inspiring display. While not every visit to Alaska revolves exclusively around the northern lights, the Alaska Travel Industry Association says operators statewide are expanding astrotourism products to coincide with the exploding demand for aurora viewing.

With international brands opening every pocket of the planet to astrotourism, it’s only natural to wonder what’s left to offer, and Houston-based Orion Span has the answer: a space hotel. Currently in development, Aurora Station expects to be the first accommodation in space, orbiting 200 miles above the Earth’s surface and offering 12-day luxury packages for a mere $9.5 million. Scheduled to launch in 2021, Orion Span hopes to welcome its first guests to Aurora Station in 2022, bringing astrotourism full circle with actual space tourism in the private sector.

The city of Houston, no stranger to space with the Johnson Space Center set to mark its involvement in the 50th anniversary of the moon landing this year, will celebrate with Space City Month in July. The space center now welcomes more than 1 million annual guests, a 23 percent increase over the past three years, and doesn’t expect a drop any time soon. As president and CEO William T. Harris says, “Space exploration is the great frontier, embraced by people around the world. There is tremendous excitement as we prepare to return humans to the moon and for the first human steps on Mars.”