Mayo Dark Sky Champion workshops
MAYO Dark Sky Champion workshops for the tourism and hospitality trade in Mayo are taking place this week, supported by Fáilte Ireland in partnership with Mayo Dark Sky Park.
Mayo is home to Ireland’s only Gold Tier International Dark Sky Park.
Mayo Dark Sky Park covers the whole expanse of the Wild Nephin National Park and offers visitors a chance to stargaze and experience naturally dark skies and phenomena such as the Milky Way and meteor showers. These powerful experiences are only truly accessible in dark sky locations which are free from light pollution.
The best time to experience the night sky is between October and late February (in other words the off-season). Year-on-year, more and more visitors want to look up and learn about skies above.
Mayo Dark Sky Park presents the tourism industry in Mayo with a unique opportunity to extend the season, support the evening economy and explore new sustainable tourism offerings.
Want to learn more?
An exciting programme has been organised for the 2023 Dark Sky Champion training course for tourism and hospitality businesses in Mayo. Two guest speakers are delivering short workshops this week specifically designed for tourism businesses in the area.
The workshops will include a basic introduction to the dark sky tourism industry, with case studies and also access to stargazing resources. Participants will leave with a clear understanding of what the Dark Sky Park is and how to help visitors to get the best experience of it. The workshops will also discuss innovations in dark sky tourism and help foster new ideas for businesses to get involved.
Guest speakers
Duncan Wise of Northumberland Dark Sky Park will present a talk on his work as Dark Skies lead officer and visitor development manager, and the success of dark sky tourism in the Northumberland area. This is estimated to be worth approximately £25m to the local economy annually.
Duncan has led many of the initiatives for developing dark sky tourism and will bring some of his insights and ideas to his talk as part of the training.
Read more about the Northumberland dark sky success here: https://www.bowe.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Dark-Skies-Research-Summary-v4-002.pdf.
Dr. Tony Johnston of TUS Midlands Midwest will present his work on a new European project specifically focused on dark sky ecotourism with the aim of providing guides and education for tourism business and building a suite of tools and resources for areas seeking to promote sustainable dark sky tourism (https://darkskytourism.eu/about-dark-sky-ecotourism/).
Workshops
The workshops take place this Tuesday, February 28, in Westport and in Ballycroy (approximately two hours per event, repeated in both locations).
Times and venues are: 10 a.m. in the W Cinema, Westport; and 2.30 p.m. in Ballycroy Visitor Centre, Wild Nephin National Park, Ballycroy.
This training aims to produce Dark Sky Champions who can encourage visitors to come back in the evening (or in winter months) and therefore to stay longer in the area (returning to the area during off peak to experience the best of the dark skies).
More info at https://mayodarkskypark.ie/what-s-on/mdsp-admin/mayo-dark-sky-champion-training.
A Dark Sky Champion certificate will be provided to all participants and all businesses will be required to sign up to the Mayo Dark Sky Charter in order to qualify for places on this free training workshop.
Registration is simple via this online form: https://forms.gle/w61Fwk9mSb29rZmA9.