Astro tourism: Astro Izery project

Abstract

Abstract. The Astro Izery project is carried by several institutions from Poland and Czech Republic. Its aim is to educate and inform tourists, who visit the Izery Mountains, about astronomy and light pollution. The project consists of two activities: permanent (sundials, planetary path etc.) and periodic (meetings, workshops). After five years the project is in good health and will gain more elements in next years.

Astrotourism: A Literature Review and Framework for Future Research

“…An analysis of these documents revealed that many authors concentrated on the certification aspects of dark-sky and starlight parks and reserves in extremely different This set of academic documents supports the conclusion that astronomical tourism's main objectives are to establish dark-sky and starlight parks and reserves and to implement measures to protect the night sky by reducing light pollution (Hearnshaw, 2012;Mrozek et al, 2012;Wei et al, 2019). Overall, the approaches reported seek to highlight this valuable resource's importance and encourage the implementation of organisational standards to ensure appropriate policies that are beneficial to tourism activities and individuals' welfare.…”

Astro-tourism in the Czech-Polish Izera Dark Sky Park

“…One of the growing varieties of astro-tourism is dark sky tourism, which develops in dark sky parks and other places where one can observe a starry sky away from urban lights and civilisation (Mrozek et al, 2012;Collison and Poe, 2013;Rodrigues et al, 2015, Blundell et al, 2020. Such parks are at the crossroads of tourism, recreation, education and environmental protection, and they realise almost 20 targets related to as many as 9 of the 17 SDGs.…”

“…It consists of 14 stones located along the main trial, symbolising the Sun, the eight planets and the six dwarf planets. The whole route is 11.5 km long, starting from the Sun (in the Tourist Station Orle) and ending on the dwarf planet Eris (in the Stóg Izerski) (Mrozek et al, 2012). Three other attractions are the gnomon, the sundial and the Ecological Education Centre Izerska Meadow Natura 2000 (EEC), established in Świeradów-Zdrój near the border with the IDSP.…”

“…Such a sky is dominated by a yellow-orange glow, and the Milky Way ceases to be visible. As a result of an approximately 2% annual increase in the brightness of the night sky (Hölker et al, 2010), some countries reinforce legal regulations regarding artificial light emission at night (Peña-García and Sędziwy, 2020), and have established dark sky protection areas, known as dark sky parks and reserves, or, informally, starry-sky parks (Mrozek et al, 2012;Collison and Poe, 2013;Rodrigues et al, 2015).…”