As you know, Mayo is home to Ireland’s only Gold Tier International Dark Sky Park. Mayo Dark Sky Park covers the whole expanse of Wild Nephin National Park and offers visitors a chance to stargaze and experience naturally dark skies and phenomena such as the milky way and meteor showers. These powerful experiences are only truly accessible in dark sky locations which are free from light pollution.
The best time to experience the night sky is between October and February and year-on-year, more and more visitors want to look up and learn about skies above. Mayo Dark Sky Park presents the tourism industry in Mayo with a unique opportunity to extend the season, support the evening economy and explore new sustainable tourism offerings.
Want to learn more? Well thanks for Mayo Dark Sky Park, astronomers from CIT’s Blackrock Castle Observatory are delivering two ½ day workshops next month in Mayo specifically designed for tourism businesses in the area. The workshops will include a basic introduction to stargazing and participants will leave with a clear understanding of what the Dark Sky Park is and how visitors can experience it. The workshops will also discuss innovations in dark sky tourism and help foster new ideas for businesses to get involved.
- Tuesday 1st March @ 2pm – Ballycroy Community Centre, Ballycroy Village
- Wednesday 2nd March @ 10am – Westport Cinema, Westport
If you would like to attend one of the workshops simply complete the attached form and email it to Georgia McMillan at [email protected].