IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/touman/v33y2012i5p1093-1102.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Space tourism: Research recommendations for the future of the industry and perspectives of potential participants

Author

Listed:
  • Reddy, Maharaj Vijay
  • Nica, Mirela
  • Wilkes, Keith

Abstract

This paper has two objectives. Firstly, it proposes a set of research dimensions for the further investigation of the emerging space tourism industry and secondly, it examines the perceptions of potential space travel participants on key factors that influence their motivation, behaviour and decision-making. The research methodology adopted in this study involved collecting quantitative data from British residents in Southern England to explore and understand their perceptions of space tourism. In addition, qualitative data was gathered by interviewing key informants connected to the space tourism industry including Virgin Galactic, Airbus and EADS Astrium to understand their views on people’s motivations, perceptions and the future of the industry. Data analysis shows that intentional need for adventure and exploration is the motivational force in space tourism. Willingness to undertake space travel is also influenced by the perception to risk, which plays a central role in potential tourist behaviour. Furthermore, factors such as type of space travel (orbital/sub-orbital),type of launch and design of the spacecraft, location of spaceports, training required, duration, insurance, health and reputation of the operating company also seem to have some influence on tourist decision-making. The paper contends that while global research dimensions are necessary it is also important to understand perceptions on a country-specific and regional basis.

Suggested Citation

  • Reddy, Maharaj Vijay & Nica, Mirela & Wilkes, Keith, 2012. "Space tourism: Research recommendations for the future of the industry and perspectives of potential participants," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 1093-1102.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:touman:v:33:y:2012:i:5:p:1093-1102
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tourman.2011.11.026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517711002536
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tourman.2011.11.026?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cater, Carl Iain, 2010. "Steps to Space; opportunities for astrotourism," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 838-845.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Martina Pásková & Nicol Budinská & Josef Zelenka, 2021. "Astrotourism–Exceeding Limits of the Earth and Tourism Definitions?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-25, January.
    2. Jorge Ridderstaat & Robertico Croes, 2013. "The Force Field of Tourism," Review of Economic Analysis, Digital Initiatives at the University of Waterloo Library, vol. 5(1), pages 1-24, June.
    3. Spector, Sam & Higham, James E.S., 2019. "Space tourism in the Anthropocene," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dajana Bjelajac & Bojan Đerčan & Sanja Kovačić, 2021. "Dark skies and dark screens as a precondition for astronomy tourism and general well-being," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 19-43, March.
    2. Martina Pásková & Nicol Budinská & Josef Zelenka, 2021. "Astrotourism–Exceeding Limits of the Earth and Tourism Definitions?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-25, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:touman:v:33:y:2012:i:5:p:1093-1102. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/tourism-management .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.