SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Sep 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Tenerife has been promoted as a ‘Starlight’ destination for stargazing during the I International Astrotourism Conference held in Évora (Portugal) and which concludes this Saturday, as reported by the Cabildo in a statement.
In this way, the island has tested the prestige that the island territory has abroad, through institutions such as the Astrophysics Observatory of the Canary Islands or also the Parque Estelar Camino Barranco de Badajoz, the only park of this type certified in the Canary Islands, one of the eight that exist in the world and that, in addition, has received the ‘Starlight 2020 Recognition for the Education and Diffusion of Astronomy’.
In this regard, the Minister of Tourism of Tenerife, David Pérez, has pointed out that this event “represents an international milestone in the field of Astrotourism, organized by the Starlight Foundation and which has been attended by different organizations, countries and regions, from among the that Tenerife stands out, without a doubt “.
“However,” he added, “according to 2019 data, more than 200,000 people carried out a stargazing activity during their visit to Tenerife; to which is added the recognition of the star park that we have on our island and of which we are very proud. “
For its part, the Tenerife delegation was also composed of the director of the IAC, Rafael Rebolo, who unveiled, during the congress, the first photograph of the Archipelago taken with the Drago camera, made with 100% Canarian technology.
In the same way, the president of the Starlight Foundation (whose headquarters is located on the island), Antonia Varela; the doctor in Astrophysics from the University of La Laguna Juan Antonio Belmonte, and the IAC researcher Garik Israelian, as well as insular Starlight guides such as José Antonio París.
In this sense, the recognition of the company Parque Estelar Starlight Camino Barranco de Badajoz, associated with Turismo de Tenerife, was received by its directors, José Ramos and Sandra Ramírez. The latter also offered a presentation entitled ‘Natural Reserve of Heaven and Earth’.
PARK ESTELAR STARLIGHT CAMINO BARRANCO DE BADAJOZ
The Starlight Camino Barranco de Badajoz Star Park has become a reference company for this activity on the island, and has recently obtained the certification of the ‘Educator Professional Development Event’ program from NASA, making it the first in Spain and second in Europe to obtain it.
Finally, the meeting in Évora has also been the scene of the presentation of a pact signed in the Parliament of the Canary Islands in June 2021 by the Federation of Business and Professional Women BPW Spain and the Starlight Foundation to defend before the UN that the Quality of the sky and access to Starlight is SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) number 18.
The CEO of Tourism of Tenerife has valued the commitment to the introduction of ODS18 in the list of the United Nations Organization for Sky Quality and access to the light of the stars, proposed on the afternoon of this Friday, with the start of a support campaign, through an online form.
