Synopsis
The paper provides a comprehensive literature review on the emerging topic of astrotourism, analyzing 42 academic publications on this niche area of tourism. In the context of the paper, astrotourism is restricted to activities focused on observing night skies and celestial phenomena, often in natural protected areas. It contributes to local community involvement and development of rural regions.
The review had three main goals:
- Identify the most researched themes in astrotourism literature
- Analyze characteristics of astrotourism research – publications per year, document types, cited articles, author productivity, geographic concentration, methods used
- Identify gaps in literature that suggest future research directions
Conceptualizing Astrotourism
While an agreed definition is still lacking, common elements emerge:
- Value of dark night skies and astronomical heritage
- Visitor experiences and activities like stargazing, celestial phenomenon observation
- Contributions to visitor knowledge and host community development
- Positioning as a niche special interest tourism activity
The recent emergence of astrotourism makes conceptual consensus difficult currently. UNESCO heritage conventions and growth of dark sky parks worldwide reflect rising appreciation of clear night skies as a valued resource.
Research Themes
Analysis clustered publications into 3 main themes:
- Astrotourism conceptualization
- Opportunities, sustainability and tourism resources
- Global experiences
The largest group (33 articles) examined global experiences, suggesting strong practical focus currently. These spanned diverse sub-topics – role of religion and indigenous knowledge, education programs and site designations, astronomical tourism, and regional development cases.
Research Characteristics
- Steady output growth since 2012, peak of 10 articles in 2019
- Most publications are journal articles (57%) or conference papers (22%)
- Highest cited articles focus on conceptualization and education/site certification
- Labuda has published most on this topic (3 articles)
- Highest concentration of research from Europe (17 articles) and the Americas (9)
- Qualitative methods dominate (59% of articles), with 23% mixed methods
Future Research Directions
- Stabilize astrotourism definition and conceptual boundaries
- Evaluate sustainability impacts of astrotourism, especially certified dark sky sites
- Study integration of astrotourism with other regional tourism products
- Investigate visitors’ destination choice process and image formation
- Assess community, economic and environmental development impacts
- Explore partnerships to support SMEs in offering astrotourism
Conclusions
The review shows astrotourism’s potential as a niche sustainable tourism activity that can diversify regional economies. But conceptual consensus is still developing, while practical implementation research dominates currently. Significant potential remains to apply innovative regional development perspectives to astrotourism growth, especially sustainability principles, networks and partnerships.
