Landscape Potential and Light Pollution as Key Factors for Astrotourism Development: A Case Study of a Slovak Upland Region

Radoslava Kanianska,Jana Škvareninová,Stanislav Kaniansky

doi:10.3390/land9100374

Radoslava Kanianska, Jana Škvareninová + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/land9100374

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Abstract

Astrotourism is considered to be a modern form of ecotourism. The main resource for astrotourism is a high-quality night sky, but this is very sensitive to natural as well as anthropogenic factors; for example, land utilization and expansion of urban areas often cause the negative effect of light pollution. The aim of the study is to perform a lighting survey by night sky brightness (NSB) measurements using the sky quality meter (SQM-L) at 20 study sites of the Slovenské stredohorie Upland region (Slovakia) and to assess the region’s potential for astrotourism development (PAD) using a multicriteria analysis. The NSB values ranged from 19.90 (city Žiar nad Hronom at Žiarska kotlina Basin) to 21.54 mag/arcsec2 (recreation area Poľana at Poľana Mountains). At 14 out of 20 study sites, the NSB values even reached 21.2 mag/arcsec2, as recommended by the International Dark-Sky Association for dark-sky parks. Four study sites were categorized as sites with medium PAD, and sixteen with low PAD. No study site reached a high or very high PAD. The best conditions for astrotourism development are fulfilled mainly by the Poľana Mountains geographical unit. The findings can be used for sustainable astrotourism development, land management, and planning to ensure socioeconomic development, together with nature and dark-sky conservation.

Highlights

Since the start of the 21st century, new kinds of tourism, including astrotourism, have emerged.Fayos-Solá et al [1] defined astrotourism as tourism using the natural resource of unpolluted night skies and appropriate scientific knowledge of astronomical, cultural, or environmental activities.Astrotourism epitomizes the tendencies towards more meaningful tourism experiences based on the conservation of natural resources
The place people perceived the sky must have a required set of attributes to be defined as an appropriate sky observation site
The brightest night sky was detected in the city Žiar nad Hronom at Žiarska kotlina Basin, with a measured night sky brightness (NSB) value of 19.90 mag/arcsec2

Summary

Introduction

Since the start of the 21st century, new kinds of tourism, including astrotourism, have emerged.Fayos-Solá et al [1] defined astrotourism as tourism using the natural resource of unpolluted night skies and appropriate scientific knowledge of astronomical, cultural, or environmental activities.Astrotourism epitomizes the tendencies towards more meaningful tourism experiences based on the conservation of natural resources. Fayos-Solá et al [1] defined astrotourism as tourism using the natural resource of unpolluted night skies and appropriate scientific knowledge of astronomical, cultural, or environmental activities. In 2008, Weaver [2] used the term celestial ecotourism, which we understand to be synonymous with astrotourism. He defined celestial ecotourism as ecotourism where the interest of visitors is focused on the observation of naturally occurring celestial phenomena. The term “dark sky tourism” is in use, which can be drawn from astral and celestial tourism to refer to tourism based on unpolluted night skies, involving observation and appreciation of naturally occurring celestial phenomena [3]

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