Chile hopes to promote dark-sky tourism
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E-mail CNTV, June 1, 2015
Chile has long been renowned for having one of the world's best natural environments for space research, and is home to many huge telescopes looking into deep space. But now, dark-sky tourism is on the rise, with budding stargazers coming to get a better view of the heavens at night time.
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Chile hopes to promote dark-sky tourism |
The north of Chile is known as the Route of the Stars. And a new push from the public and private sector is aiming to market the South American country as a world leader in the astro-tourism sector.
It may not look like it today, but this seaside town is the jumping off point for those wanting to gaze up at the stars.
Tours costing around $20 a person roll out of the city of La Serena every night, climbing high into the foothills of the Andes in the Elqui Valley, above the cloud line. Here at the Mamalluco observatory, with just the light of phone screens, a large group squeezes into an observatory to look up, and learn about the stars. Astro-tourism in Chile is fast becoming a major attraction for visitors.
"We need to diversify...that certainly has to be improved," said Pablo Alvarez, director of astroturismo.cl.
Chile has an advantage over other countries because of its strategic location. According to the government, Chile currently has half of the worldwide astronomy infrastructure of telescopes installed, a figure that will rise to 70 percent in the coming years,
"Our very clear skies, our privileged skies, up to now have been used by scientists. Now we think that they also should be used by regular visitors, Chilean and foreigners," Alvarez said.
In an effort to boost business, Chile has sent fact-finding missions to observe similar astro-tourism projects in the Canary Islands, Hawaii and Arizona.
As cities grow and create more light around the world, the sparsely populated north of Chile is in position to become a leader in star gazing, not only for research and science, but also tourism.
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