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Alqueva in Portugal in order to innovate and differentiate the Tourism offer for to became more competitive, developed a tourism product based on the Region’s quality of the night sky for the development of astro-tourism : The Dark Sky Route
The overall basis in the development of the Route was that the professionalism of the entrepreneurs was the basis for the success of the project, for that was necessary to offer continuous training focused on the specificity of the Route: tourist activities done at night based on the quality of the dark sky of the Region
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Challenges in respect of skills that small entrepreneurs of the region needed for the success of the project were specially to obtain knowledge: About sustainable development and light pollution mitigation
To develop tourism products
How to change and adapt their tourism offer for tourists who engage in tourism activities during the night
About basics in astronomy
Sky guiding skills
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Amongst several training courses offered we could highlight:
Knowledge about the stargazing tourist and equipment required
How to use the technical equipment for sky observations
Sky guiding skills: offered by amateur astronomers with tours to the Portuguese planetary in Lisbon
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The key success of the project: The team that developed the project had a strong
background in tourism and development, from undergraduate to PhD and all the work was complemented with experts in the field of astronomy and consumer leaders (eg. Night photographers , amateur astronomers ) in the working segment
The biggest challenge of the project: Training astronomy skills to the tourism entrepreneurs
The training that tourism entrepreneurs need is not offered in the courses of the national Catalogue of Training (ANQEP).
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