To boldly go where no tourist has gone before.
Since Richard Branson announced a hoped-for foray into space tourism in the early 2000s, an elite group of travel advisors and their clients have been eagerly awaiting the launch of Virgin Galactic's suborbital flights. Now with preparations underway at the company's futuristic Spaceport America in New Mexico, it looks like the long wait is about to end.
With Virgin Galactic being just one player in a rapidly expanding field that also includes Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, space tourism is certain to grow as a business source for travel advisors. While suborbital flights are now limited to the very rich — the six-minute experience costs $250,000 — experts believe they could one day be comparable in cost to Antarctic cruises and other high-end adventure travel. They could also spark interest in far less-expensive types of space tourism such as trips to view eclipses and rocket launches.
For travel advisors whose clients have a yen for the ultimate adventure, an exciting new era is just beginning.
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