Our story

The idea for DarkSkyTour was born from a shared passion across Europe’s southern regions: the desire to reconnect people with the night sky while promoting sustainable, low-impact tourism. In many rural and mountainous areas of the Euro-MED space, the stars still shine brightly—offering not just a breathtaking natural spectacle, but also an opportunity for regions to grow their local economies in harmony with nature.

Recognizing this unique potential, 10 partners from 8 Mediterranean countries—Slovenia, Croatia, Spain, Portugal, Montenegro, Italy, Greece, and Cyprus—joined forces to launch DarkSkyTour, under the Interreg Euro-MED programme. Coordinated by BSC Kranj, this partnership brings together regional authorities, development agencies, environmental institutes, tourism experts, and astronomical societies. Together, we are pioneering a new approach to astrotourism—an emerging form of sustainable travel focused on observing the night sky in low-light-pollution environments.

But DarkSkyTour is more than a tourism project—it’s a call to action. We are responding to the growing problem of artificial light at night, which threatens nocturnal biodiversity, disrupts ecosystems, and affects human health. Our project tackles this through a combination of innovation, education, and strategic planning.

Over the course of 33 months, we will:

  • Develop and test eco-tourism services linked to stargazing and night-based experiences;
  • Create Dark Sky Place Labs to pilot new ideas and involve local communities;
  • Organize capacity-building activities, study visits, and transnational events;
  • Produce the first “Procedures for the development of Dark Sky Tourism”;
  • Co-design and implement 8 regional action plans and a joint transnational strategy;
  • Define transnational Dark Sky standards and promote best practices in light pollution prevention;
  • Host a hackathon, a summer school, and a public Dark Sky Tourism Festival.

Through our work, we aim to establish the Euro-MED region as a global reference for responsible astrotourism—where communities thrive, biodiversity is respected, and the night sky is once again something to be celebrated.

This is our shared journey.
This is the story of DarkSkyTour.