The Role of Attractions, Activities, and Light Pollution in Tourism

Attractions play a crucial role in tourism, as they inspire people to visit specific destinations and influence their choices. These attractions include historical and cultural landmarks, natural landscapes, wildlife, national parks, festivals, and events. Even accommodations and local architecture can serve as attractions.

Activities are designed to enhance the visitor experience and generate revenue for the tourism industry. They often revolve around local attractions and can include food festivals, markets, workshops, and foraging tours. Other examples include guided tours, exhibitions, and outdoor activities that celebrate regional culture and natural beauty.

Light pollution poses challenges for both attractions and activities. It can reduce the aesthetic appeal of attractions, limit access, and interfere with tourism-related experiences. For example:

• It disrupts the sleep and wellbeing of both visitors and residents, leading to tiredness, stress, and reduced enjoyment of activities.
• It affects local wildlife, such as nocturnal animals and farm animals, which need darkness for their natural behaviours and safety (Stokkan et al. 2013).
• It can diminish the visual quality of attractions, compromise safety, and lower visitor satisfaction, impacting recommendations and business income.

Additionally, excessive lighting contributes to health issues such as sleep deprivation, obesity, and even risks like cancer, as highlighted by recent research (Obayashi et al. 2022; Palomar-Cros et al. 2024).

Accommodation and Amenities

Quality accommodation and amenities are essential for enhancing the tourism experience. Accommodation often serves not only as a place to stay but can also be an attraction in itself. Amenities, including infrastructure like roads, bridges, beaches, restaurants, hiking trails, and lighting, support access to attractions and enrich the overall experience.

Lighting plays a significant role in tourism facilities, helping illuminate attractions, ease navigation, and enable night-time activities. Façade lighting is commonly used to highlight accommodations and amenities, while some facilities operate 24/7 with lights continuously on. However, excessive artificial lighting contributes to light pollution, which impacts biodiversity and diminishes the appeal of nature-based tourism. Johan Eklöf, in his book Darkness Manifesto (2023), highlights that artificial lighting accounts for one-tenth of the world's energy consumption, though only a fraction of this light is effectively utilized.

Light pollution can harm nocturnal wildlife, affect food security, and reduce the aesthetic and ecological value of natural surroundings. For accommodations near water bodies, misdirected light can lead to eutrophication, degrading water quality and aquatic ecosystems. This negatively impacts the appeal of water-based tourism activities.

Accessibility

Accessibility is a cornerstone of tourism, ensuring smooth travel and enriching experiences. It involves three key aspects: reaching the destination via air, land, or water; ease of moving between attractions at the destination; and access to cultural and natural experiences, such as biodiversity and the night sky.

Experiencing wellness is an integral part of accessibility. Tourism that promotes physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing—by prioritizing access to restful environments, biodiversity, and safety—can greatly enhance visitor satisfaction. Accessibility not only determines the quality of the experience but also influences whether travelers recommend the destination to others.

When considering accessibility in tourism, it’s important to consider inclusivity for people with disabilities. This involves providing infrastructure like wheelchair ramps, elevators, and accessible restrooms, along with staff trained to assist visitors with special needs. Attractions should also feature clear signage and audio-visual aids to support individuals with visual or hearing impairments. Affordability is another key factor, as low-cost options for transportation, accommodation, and activities allow more people to enjoy their travel experiences. By addressing these aspects, destinations can become more welcoming and ensure tourism is enjoyable and accessible for everyone.

Understanding Light Pollution: Impact on Tourism

Visitor and Local Perspectives

Scenario 1: As a Visitor

Imagine you are a visitor arriving late after a long day of travel. Seeking a restful night to recharge for activities like hiking, sports, or sightseeing the following day, you find yourself struggling to sleep due to bright garden lights outside your window and distracting flashes from passing cars or advertisements. Without blackout curtains or some form of relief, the sleepless night might leave you feeling drained, impacting your mood, energy, and overall enjoyment of the trip.

Scenario 2: As a Local Resident or Employee

Now, picture yourself as someone living or working near tourism hotspots. The glare and brightness from these activities disrupt your evenings and compromise your ability to sleep. This ongoing issue might negatively influence your daily life and overall wellbeing.

Key Reflection

Light pollution affects both visitors and locals in significant ways. By addressing this issue, could better solutions be implemented to improve the experience for everyone?

We are now reaching the end of this study module. In the final page you will find useful sources to further develop your offering. Finally, The GLOW2.0 video on light pollution below provides simple and practical methods to help reduce its impact. Make sure to keep your activity notes handy, as they will be useful in the next module section Embracing the Night III: Conserving the Natural Darkness, which focuses on effective strategies for conserving, reducing, and reversing light pollution.