The tourism industry body, Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa (Fedhasa) has expressed optimism in the country’s new tourism node, the Astro-Tourism Strategy which aims to boost the local economy, and foster scientific curiosity, environmental stewardship, and cultural exchange.

The National Astro-Tourism Strategy is a joint effort between the Department of Tourism led by Minister Patricia de Lille and the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation led by Minister Prof Blade Nzimande.

Through astro-tourism one can witness a meteor shower, observe distant galaxies using a telescope, or learn about celestial objects from experts.

A meteor shower happens when Earth passes through the path of a comet, while meteors are streaks of light in the sky caused by dust and sand-sized rocks burning up as they hit Earth’s upper atmosphere at very high speeds.

Astro-tourism has offerings such as observatories, telescopes, museums, planetariums, meteorite sites, visitor centres, amateur astronomy clubs, stargazing, tour guides, astro-routes, and accommodation establishments, amongst others.

The project is being piloted in the Northern Cape province which hosts two astronomy instruments— the MeerKAT telescope, which is a precursor to the world’s largest radio telescope known as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in Carnarvon and the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere, the South African Large Telescope (SALT) in Sutherland.

Tasneem Carrim, spokesperson for the Department of Tourism said the strategy will be implemented in various urban and rural areas across the country, which offer quality dark night skies and astronomy facilities with tourism experiences.

“Examples of urban astro-tourism products contained in the strategy are the WITS Digital Dome in Johannesburg, the Naval Hill Planetarium in Bloemfontein and the Visitor Centre at the South African Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town,” Carrim said.

Rosemary Anderson, the national chairperson of Fedhasa said the astro-tourism initiative has the possibility of significantly boosting and enhancing the country’s tourism and hospitality sector by levaraging its exceptional astronomical assets and clear night skies.

“This new hospitality and tourism opportunity will enable our industry to collaborate with the local communities and integrate indigenous celestial narratives to offer culturally rich experiences. These include a smorgasbord of accommodation options that are in harmony with the environment and rich culinary experiences that embrace and celebrate the indigenous environment and other opportunities to make this a ‘not to be missed’ experience when visiting South Africa,” Anderson said.

She added that the aim is to ensure that this new tourism node primarily benefits locals and small businesses and that all the benefits are equally shared.

“We are excited about the significant quality and diversified job creation that can be born in this area.

“Simultaneously our expectations of astro-tourism is that it will heavily emphasise sustainable tourism and hospitality practices, where our dark skies in the area will be preserved by minimising light pollution and aligning with the environmental conservation goals. These criteria are for sure going to create innovative and new concepts in hospitality and tourism – tailored specifically for this environmentally sensitive area. Our industry loves a challenge and we are going to definitely rise to the occasion!” she said.

Updating the joint sitting of the portfolio committees of Tourism and Science, Technology and Innovation on the progress made, Nzimande said astro-tourism is built around the traditions inherited from “our” ancestors by different ethnic cultures in observing the skies from time immemorial.

“Astro-tourism therefore draws heavily from the vast and untapped reservoirs of our indigenous knowledge systems.”

“In this connection, astro-tourism is, therefore, a niche market that involves the practice of travelling to different locations that have dark skies or radio quietness to observe astronomical phenomena such as meteorites, eclipses, and visible celestial objects in the night sky,” Nzimande stated.

Carrim said various projects such as planning for the SKA Carnarvon Science Exploratorium and implementation of the Astro-Guide pilot programme are already under way. “The full implementation of the Astro-Tourism Strategy will commence once the final approval has been received,” she added.

She added that the draft Astro-Tourism Strategy was launched on World Tourism Day on 27 September 2024, and gazetted on the same day for public comment. The project teams from both departments have improved the strategic document with inputs from the public comments received and that it will be tabled shortly for final Cabinet approval.

Nzimande said astronomy is not just about blue sky research, but it has real and practical use in the day-to-day lives of people.

“It is the study of astronomy that enabled what we today know as the GPS or Global Positioning System. Our own antennae at our Hartebeeshoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) form part of a global network of telescopes that provides accurate timekeeping and GPS systems. Astronomy enabled the invention of Wi-Fi.

“Wi-Fi uses techniques which were developed for analysing and transferring radio signals from black holes wirelessly in complex environments, later found expression in modern day Wi-Fi applications,” said Nzimande.

gcwalisile.khanyile@inl.co.za

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Prof Blade Nzimande.Picture: Oupa Mokoena Independent Newspapers