Valley of the stars in the Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park. Photo / Mark Gee
Valley of the stars in the Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park. Photo / Mark Gee
OPINION
Astrotourism is a niche sector of the tourism industry and is growing fast around the world.
Until the pandemic struck, New Zealand was at the forefront of the growth of the astrotourism industry.
Astrotourism is when tourists travel to the darkest sites in the world to admire the beautyof the stars and the Milky Way in a pristine nightscape unpolluted with artificial light. This light pollution has made so many cities awash with bright light 24/7, so much so that the Milky Way is no longer visible and at most only a handful of stars can be seen.
A villa at Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat in the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve. Photo / Supplied, File
Astrotourism also needs dark sky places to have easy access. Ideally, there will be a company with night-sky guides trained to give an authoritative night-sky tour of the visible night sky.
With a small telescope or binoculars, astrotourists can enjoy the beauty of planets, star clusters, gaseous nebulae, galaxies, and - if they are lucky - maybe a comet or a meteor shower or an aurora.
New Zealand has been fortunate in having already four accredited dark sky places recognised by the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) in Tucson Arizona.
The first of these was the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve (AMIDSR) around lakes Tekapo and Pukaki, which incorporates over 4000sq km of land in the Mackenzie District and includes the University of Canterbury's Mt John Observatory. It received gold star accreditation in 2012 from IDA.
Astrotourists at the Mt John Observatory, Lake Tekapo. Photo / Fraser Gunn
The second dark sky place was Aotea/Great Barrier Island, accredited in 2017, followed by Rakiura/Stewart Island in 2019.
As a result of this international recognition, astrotourism companies have flourished and hundreds of thousands of international tourists travel to see the beauty of the night sky, many from the heavily polluted megacities of Asia in China, Japan and Korea, where many residents have never seen a truly dark star-studded sky.
In the Mackenzie, at least nine astrotourism companies are operating, the largest being the Dark Sky Project at Tekapo, followed by Big Sky Stargazing at Mt Cook.
The mayor of Mackenzie District has praised the Aoraki Mackenzie reserve for stimulating the economy of this region of the South Island. Astrotourists are more or less forced to spend a night in the reserve, at Tekapo, Twizel or Mt Cook, and that has boosted the economy of the district through accommodation providers and restaurants.
The daily visitor spend in the Mackenzie increased from a steady $120m a year in the period 2009 to 2012 to about $360m by the end of 2019, or about a million dollars a day. The steep increase started in 2012, the year AMIDSR was founded.
Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo with Southern Cross. Photo / Fraser Gunn
The good news is that at least 15 communities around New Zealand now aspire to have accredited dark sky reserves so as to emulate the success of AMIDSR.
The next will probably be in the Wairarapa, later in 2022, and an application from Naseby in Central Otago is also under consideration by IDA. Kaikoura District Council is also actively planning an application to become a reserve.
In five years, there could easily be a dozen accredited dark sky places with flourishing astrotourism companies. New Zealand is viewed as a world leader because of our dark skies, low population density and indigenous Maori culture celebrating Matariki, which has become an important part of the astrotourism narrative of night-sky guides.
There are, however, some issues around the sudden growth. One is that some locations, notably Lake Tekapo, have become swamped with tourists, far more than a small village with a permanent population of about 400, can easily handle and accommodate.
Nova. Milky Way. Photo / Paul Wilson
A second issue is the pandemic, which suddenly destroyed the international tourism market. Astrotourism companies laid off staff. Many night-sky guides were overseas nationals, able to give guided tours in Asian or European languages other than English. These staff members now need to be recruited again, but night-sky guiding is a profession requiring highly knowledgeable and well-educated personnel. They are not easy to find.
Last year, Nalayini Davies, the president of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand and a member of the Auckland Astronomical Society, and myself started a new not-for-profit educational organisation, the Aotearoa Astrotourism Academy (AAA).
John Hearnshaw. Photo / Supplied
The original aim was to train astrotourism night-sky guides in the basics of astronomy through lectures, workshops and observing sessions over 2½ days. In practice, the courses are open to anyone and attract amateur astronomers who want to improve their knowledge and learn how best to use a small telescope, including those who want to try their hand at astrophotography.
The next AAA course will be in Auckland at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and will run from December 2-4, 2022. Full details can be found on the AAA website at aaanz.org. Online registrations are accepted.
The hope is that astrotourism in Aotearoa will once again boom and this country can lead the way towards becoming a Dark Sky Nation.
• John Hearnshaw is Emeritus Professor of Astronomy, the University of Canterbury.
