Visitation benefits of Astrotourism in Torrey and capitol reef National Park, Utah

Amply dark nights provide a wide variety of benefits to human health and well-being. Unfortunately, dark nights are a dying resource. In fact, 80% of people in the United States cannot see the full night sky from where they live. DarkSky International, founded in 1988 under the name The International Dark Skies Association, has advocated for dark sky spaces to preserve human health benefits as well as our ancestral connection to the night sky. The work of DarkSky International can be found prominently in small rural Utah town called Torrey, just outside of Capitol Reef National Park. Capitol Reef National Park is a gold tier certified dark sky park. This is possible because Torrey is a dark sky certified community, the first in Utah. This certification has brought in a whole new market: astrotourism. Astrotourism provides people with an opportunity to see the full night sky and learn about our place in the universe and our connections to the ways of old, but it also provides town with a blossoming market in tourism. This paper will illustrate the various benefits in visitation and tourism that have come to the town of Torrey as well as Capitol Reef National Park after being certified as a dark sky community in 2018 and a dark sky park in 2015 respectfully.