Published on : Saturday, July 14, 2018
The home-sharing app has said that strong growth has been indicated in travel linked to astronomical events and to destinations known for star gazing. Last year, more than 50,000 Airbnb guests from 26 countries travelled to the US for the solar eclipse, and there are nearly 3,000 homes listed on the platform offering telescopes.
Airbnb said that the United States, France and Italy are the three countries with the highest number of stargazing-ready listings.
Trending astro-tourism destinations include Antofagasta, a Chilean city located next to the Atacama Desert, which is home to some of the best telescopes in the world and one of the prime locations to watch the stars. Other trending stargazing destinations include La Palma, Spain, home of GTC; Kiruna, Sweden and Yarmouth, Canada.
To highlight the importance of astro-tourism, Airbnb is partnering with Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and Fundación Starlight in Spain’s Canary Islands. The aim is to promote astro-tourism as a more sustainable form of travel which is beneficial for tourism in more remote and rural regions, away from built up tourist areas.