26 Aug 2026

Astro tourism has been identified as a key growth frontier with the potential to drive sustainable tourism, support rural economies and create new employment opportunities.

The emerging sector reportedly presents an opportunity for the future of guiding in Botswana, with strong partnerships, structured training and a focus on professional standards.

Speaking during the second astro-tourism training programme for professional guides and student guides, regional tourism officer recently, Mr Ontlametse Ramokgalo, appreciated the training saying it was about exploring new possibilities for Botswana tourism industry and considering how the industry could create experiences that attracted visitors, generated employment and expanded opportunities for Batswana.

He said Botswana was internationally recognised for its wildlife, wilderness, Okavango Delta, Kalahari and the rich culture therefore with the tourism industry evolving, visitors were increasingly seeking unique, meaningful land memorable experience, and astro-tourism provided one exciting answer.

Mr Ramokgalo cited the country’s vast open spaces, remote tourism destinations and relatively dark skies highlighting that they presented an opportunity to position the night sky as another tourism asset.

“Imagine a visitor spending the day experiencing the Moremi Game Reserve and in the evening, sitting under a clear Botswana sky, learning about the stars and planets while listening to stories about our skies and heritage. 

That is more than stargazing, it is an experience and a tourism product in its own right,” he added appreciating the importance of training.

Mr Ramokgalo further noted that successful tourism depended on people citing that a telescope alone could not create a memorable experience but professional guides brought experiences to life through knowledge, storytelling, skills and passion.

He acknowledged that the programme could therefore, help create a new generation of astro- tourism guides while giving Batswana an opportunity to build businesses around astronomy tours, educational experiences and related tourism services.

From department perspective, he said they viewed astro-tourism as an opportunity to increase visitor value noting that evening activities could increase visitors’ length of stay thereby boosting tourism spending and further strengthening the country’s tourism diversity, competitiveness and resilience.“We would like to see this programme go beyond the classroom, we want the knowledge gained to translate into real tourism products that visitors can book, experience and remember,” said Mr Ramokgalo.

The training was facilitated by Career Dreams Centre, Botswana University of International, Science and Technology (BUIST) to build the capacity of tourism professionals with a particular focus on professional guides who are interested in developing competencies in night-sky interpretation

On the side line of the training, a system and radio frequency engineer at BUIST, Dr Fahmi Mokhupuki, stated in an interview that to advance astro-tourism in the country, they collaborated with Career Dreams to champion integration of astronomy programme with local tourism, leveraging the country’s clear dark skies to boost rural economies and expand science outreach.

He said BIUST offered an astronomy course and programmes as well as specialised training related to astronomy, which they collaborate with the Ministry of Communication and Innovation.

He said interest started in 2010 where Botswana became an African partner country to a project ‘Square Kilomtre Array’ aimed to build the world largest radio telescope.

Through the project, he said Botswana recognised it as a valuable endeavour because astronomy was multifaceted, with technical skills that one needed to build own instrument that produced a lot of data. 

“Dr Mokhupuki highlighted that the university was deliberate about their mandate, to augment the tourism offerings and astro-tourism was non-invasive, kind to the environment and it could also add value to the travel appeal. ends