ABSTRACT
This chapter considers whether different categories of place or, more precisely, the manner in which tourists engage with different places elicit different levels or intensities of spirituality, spirituality being defined as a sense of connectedness or what de Souza describes as “human relationality”—people are relational beings, and hence “living with an awareness of one’s relationality is the essence of human spirituality”. Irrespective of terminology, a key factor in understanding the significance of place is the distinction between “space” and “place”. Like green space, there has long been a recognition that blue spaces/aquatic environments are beneficial to people’s health, and this in turn led to the beginnings of the development of modern tourism in Europe and beyond. People participate in astrotourism for a variety of reasons and motives. Despite the centrality of place to the tourist experience, few attempts have been made to consider how the tourist’s relationship with place may determine subsequent spiritual or transcendental experiences.
