Embrace the Night: Exploring the Future of Noctourism with Stephanie Vermillion

Image Source: Stephanie Vermillion - Stargazing in the Makgadikgadi Pans

Travel after dark is having a moment. In this episode of Signal Shift, we sit down with adventure journalist and author Stephanie Vermillion (National Geographic, Vogue, Outside Magazine) to explore Noctourism—the emerging trend that’s reshaping the future of travel. From stargazing and bioluminescent bays to night safaris and the wellness practice of “star bathing,” noctourism offers a new way to experience culture, nature, and adventure while supporting sustainability and local communities. Stephanie shares her personal journey into the night, interesting destinations, and why she believes noctourism is one of the most exciting travel movements of the next decade. If you’re looking for unique things to do on your next trip or want a glimpse into the future of travel in 2025 and beyond, this conversation will spark your imagination.

Discovering Noctourism with Stephanie Vermillion

• Follow Stephanie on Instagram

• Visit her website

• Vermillion, Stephanie. “Night Matters - 100 Nights of a Lifetime: Adventures After Dark.” Presentation to the DarkSky International. YouTube, uploaded by DarkSky International, December 19, 2024. Watch here

• 100 Nights of a Lifetime - available on Amazon and elsewhere here

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The Allure of Noctourism

Noctourism is more than just a trend; it's a movement that invites us to explore the world in a new light—literally. As Stephanie Vermillion explains, noctourism encompasses various nighttime adventures. This includes everything from astrotourism to night safaris, and even the enchanting experience of bioluminescence.

Imagine standing beneath a sky filled with stars, feeling the cool night air, and listening to the sounds of nature awakening after dark. It's a multi-sensory experience that connects us to the world in ways we often overlook during the day.

Why Noctourism Matters

In our fast-paced lives, we often forget to pause and appreciate the beauty around us. Noctourism encourages us to slow down and embrace the night. It allows us to escape the heat of the day, explore new landscapes, and engage with local communities in meaningful ways.

As we navigate a rapidly changing world, the need for connection—both with nature and with each other—has never been more crucial. Noctourism offers a unique opportunity to foster that connection while supporting sustainability and local economies.

The Future of Travel: Noctourism

As we look ahead, the future of travel is bright, especially with the rise of noctourism. This trend is driven by our collective desire for adventure and new experiences. People are seeking out less-traveled paths, and noctourism provides just that.

Whether it's a night safari in Africa or a stargazing adventure in the American Southwest, the possibilities are endless. Stephanie emphasizes that you don't have to travel far to experience the magic of the night. Even a simple walk around your neighborhood can reveal hidden wonders.

Embracing the Night: Tips for Your Journey

1. Start Small: If you're new to noctourism, begin with experiences close to home. Look for local events or guided night walks that can introduce you to the beauty of the night sky.

2. Connect with Local Guides: Engaging with local guides can enhance your experience. They possess invaluable knowledge about the area and can lead you to hidden gems that you might miss on your own.

3. Be Mindful of Light Pollution: One of the joys of noctourism is experiencing dark skies. Consider visiting dark sky parks or areas known for their minimal light pollution. This not only enhances your stargazing experience but also raises awareness about the impact of light pollution on our environment.

4. Try Star Bathing: This practice involves soaking in the beauty of the night sky. Whether you're in a remote location or your backyard, take a moment to gaze upward, breathe deeply, and let your mind wander.

5. Document Your Adventures: Capture your nocturnal experiences through photography or journaling. Reflecting on these moments can deepen your appreciation for the night and inspire future adventures.

The Role of Sustainability in Noctourism

Sustainability is at the heart of noctourism. By supporting local communities and engaging in responsible travel practices, we can ensure that these experiences remain accessible for generations to come.

Stephanie highlights the importance of using technology that minimizes disruption to wildlife. For instance, some night safaris now utilize thermal cameras instead of bright lights, allowing for a more respectful observation of animals in their natural habitats. This approach not only enhances the experience for travelers but also protects the integrity of the wildlife.

Conclusion: A Call to Adventure

As we conclude our exploration of noctourism, I encourage you to embrace the night. Whether you're planning a trip or simply stepping outside your front door, take a moment to appreciate the beauty that surrounds you.

The world after dark is full of wonder, adventure, and connection. By engaging with noctourism, we can unlock new perspectives and thrive amidst the rapid changes of our global landscape. As we look to the future, let's continue to explore, connect, and celebrate the magic of the night.

For more insights and adventures, be sure to follow Stephanie Vermillion on her journey through the world of noctourism.

*Disclaimer: The text in this post is AI generated from our original video podcast - please see below for the full transcript.

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Episode Transcript:

Sue (00:00)

Hello and welcome back to Signal Shift. It's Sue here. I've got Raakhee here as well. And we're continuing our Future of Travel series and we are so excited to welcome a special guest today, Stephanie Vermillion.

Well, Stephanie is an adventure journalist, author, and photographer. She focuses on stories of culture, adventure, and conservation, and the reason why she's here today, noctourism. Her work has been featured in many publications like National Geographic, Vogue, Outside Magazine, and many more. And in December of 2024, she published her first book based on her love of astrotourism. It's called 100 Nights of a Lifetime.

The World's Ultimate Adventures After Dark, published by National Geographic and Disney Publishing. So welcome, Stephanie. We're so glad to have you. Thanks so much for making the time.

Stephanie (00:53)

Absolutely, thanks for having me, especially to talk about my favorite topic of all time, Noctourism.

Sue (00:58)

Well, we're excited to talk to you about it today because we've been exploring how travel may change in the future. And of course, Noctourism has come up as an increasing trend. Certainly we've talked about it here on our podcast about being more active at night amid a warming world and tourist overcrowding. It's certainly been things that have been on our mind. But really, what does Noctourism involve? So I guess I'll just start off.

with two questions for you. And the first one is just a beginner 101. What is Noctourism? How might it be different from kind of traditional tourism? And the second question is how did you become immersed in it? You know, what was the hook that got you involved?

Stephanie (01:43)

think those two questions go really kind of hand in hand. Noctourism is to keep it very simple, nocturnal tourism, smushed together. The travel industry loves to make these kind of on-trend work. But I kind of see noctourism as this umbrella of travel that is all about adventuring after dark. So it encompasses astrotourism, which is how I got my start in this. always been interested in the night sky, in the Northern lights. That was almost my gateway into this nocturnal tourism world. Because once you're out at night, I'm sure if you've experienced the stars or Aurora hunting or anything, yes, it's about what you're seeing overhead, but it's also what you're feeling, what you're sensing.

I know when it's dark, often your sense of hearing is more heightened, so you're more aware of what's around you. And so it's just a totally different way to experience the world and it's very multi-sensory. So that's kind of how I found my way into it, is I did all of this nighttime travel for the stars for the Northern Lights. And then I was like, what else is there? And that's what's really cool is there have always been things, but I feel like one, they're not as known.

And two, they haven't been as accessible. Like night safaris have always been around, but now they're becoming more accessible. There are more of them. They're more sustainable, which we can talk about later. But I think that noctourism encompasses just travel after dark. So it has that astrotourism component, which is really has been popular for a long time. That has grown a lot since the 2017 total solar eclipse, which went over North America. A lot of people are like, wow, the interstellar world is pretty cool. So that drew a lot of people in and we've seen a lot of momentum with dark skies and all of that. But again I think a lot of people like me have had that kind of entry into astro tourism and they're like, what else is there? And enter noctourism where there's astro tourism. And often when you're out at night, stars are involved no matter what. There's also night safaris. There's even night markets. There's bioluminscence There's so much 

just so much in the world after dark that we don't even think about experiencing because we've so often had on our itinerary, dinner, maybe a bar and then bed.

Raakhee (04:08)

I will say, thinking about this episode made me realize how many night experiences were some of my favorite, just by default. And I had done, it wasn't really a night safari, but it was a night bush, New Year's Eve sort of celebration. It was kind of cool. It was in South Africa in sort of a reserve. And when I thought back, I was saying this to my husband, I was like, that was one of our favorite New Year's Eve's. It was just so different.

And the Northern Lights and I still haven't done bioluminescence, but yeah, cannot wait to experience that. I just, yeah, it just made me realize, wow, these are such pivotal, special moments. And when we think of the night and darkness, and I love that you said up front, you spoke about multi-sensory. And when we think of the dark, kind of, you know, we think, what is there, right? There isn't much at night or in the darkness and it feels like there's a whole world out there.

Stephanie (05:03)

I love to hear that some of your favorite travel experiences were after dark. The thing with that too is we don't even realize that the easiest way to turn something more adventurous is to go at night, to go on a trail, to go on safari because it feels almost like spookier or different, more exciting because it's, you know, one of your senses is a little bit impaired. And also it's just so much happens after dark. Like for us, sure, it's our bedtime, but in the animal kingdom, things are just, you know, starting once the sun sets. And so that's your night safari, I'm sure was incredible.

Sue (05:40)

Stephanie, I want to move into some of the trends that you're seeing with Noctourism. you know, now seeing it being this future travel trend, what do you think is driving that interest?

Stephanie (05:50)

There's many things. One thing I would say is we're all kind of looking for what's uncharted territory for travel. For example, you know, a decade ago, people would have probably never thought that Antarctica would be facing potential over tourism. And I feel like that shows just how much people are yearning for these experiences that are less traveled, less experienced by people, just feel more adventurous, feel like you're really getting out into the world in a way that maybe challenges you. And I think that's one reason that Noctourism has been really popular is it's just showing us a different side of the world. What I love about that is that it doesn't have to require you traveling to the ends of the earth to experience that kind of uncharted adventure. I often go outside at night just around where I live and go on a walk around the block or walk to the park. And I live in Cleveland, Ohio.

So you wouldn't expect this, at night, walking to the park a couple months ago, and I would see like a coyote or a family of foxes those are just things you never really see during the day. So I think that sense of wanting adventure, wanting something new, something that not everyone is doing is really driving people into this noctourism. 

Another thing you mentioned actually in the intro is that kind of escaping the heat. I actually experienced this very simply firsthand by traveling to Southern Utah in July and August. but during the day it gets so hot. It's where it's just unbearable. But so many places out there have dark skies where you can experience these incredible landscapes as the sun sets and then as the stars start to shine and it's almost like you get to see the world in one, you know, very beautiful way, then two, doesn't, it isn't so hard on your body because scanning out, hiking out in 100 degrees or more, it's really hard. And that's increasingly happening to places around the world where it's just really hot during the day. So when people travel, they want to make the most of their time on the ground, but you can't always do that if it's really hot.

So I think climate change is playing a role. And then I think things are just really hard in the world right now. There's a lot of doom scrolling. There's a lot of just doom and gloom and all of that. That I've found with being out at night is it's like, you're almost reverted back to this like primal state.

You're out at night and if you want to see the stars, for example, you're not using your phone because that'll impair your vision. So you are just in it. trying to keep track of what's around you. You're looking at the stars. You're trying to navigate the night sky like our ancestors did millennia ago. It's just this very primal state that I feel like is something that is really beneficial to our wellness, to our health, to just really be a human. I feel like the night is one of the best times to do that because you really just have to rely on your senses. Phone isn't the focus. It's really on you experiencing the world and listening, looking, smelling, just being.

Sue (09:10)

There are lots of places to go do this and you've seen so many of them around the world. I was just wondering now with the industry sort of developing more, you you mentioned Arizona, I think there's a dark sky center opening, for example. What are some destinations that you think are really leading the way in helping travelers experience Noctourism?

Stephanie (09:32)

In Tucson, they have this new experience called the Tucson Astro Trail. It's kind of a road trip, but it also is, I think, everything within a couple of hours of driving of each other in the Tucson area. It's a trail kind of like you had like food trails, if you remember that trend and all of that. Brewery trails, Well, but now there's an astro trail and it includes observatories you can go to where you get hands-on with technology that

Experts know how to use, you don't have to learn how to use a telescope, but you can look through a telescope and actually kind of see the world like an astronomer, but then a couple of hours or miles down the road, you can also go to Saguaro National Park, which is a dark sky park and see the stars above the cacti, which is incredible. And then you have kind of this link of all of these like state parks, observatories where it's all astro-focused. So I find that it's really exciting because I think it's really fun to complement stargazing with star education in a way.

Stephanie (10:38)

And that’s astrotourism, of course. Another place I really enjoyed was in Usangu Expedition Camp in southern Tanzania. I think it's near Ruaha National Park on the border. But when I went there in 2022, they had just started this new camp and they only had four little tents then I think they have more it's an Asilia brand and they are very focused on nighttime adventures and this camp is all about conservation and citizen science so you upload all of your photos to these citizen science folders and you help them with collaring you help them with putting up camera traps but then by night, what I loved is you get to go out with them and see the wilderness come alive at night. And what is especially cool, and this is something I am really hopeful expands, especially with wildlife tourism at night, is instead of using these big bright beams that blind the animals, it doesn't blind them forever, but just like us, if you get the white light in your eyes, it blinds you for a bit.

It can really disrupt the animals who are hunting or looking for hiding places. So they, instead of using these big bright lights, they use thermal cameras. So you can watch the animals on an iPad. And I remember when we were there, we found a leopard, and we turned off the vehicle and they were following it with a thermal camera and we were watching the Leopard's kind of silhouette on the iPad. And because we weren't so obviously there shining bright lights in its face, we were very quiet. We could see the Leopard actually at its most active time, mostly start trying to approach us, which it didn't. We were in a Safari vehicle. It was all fine. But during the day, it sounds like you guys have been on Safari.

Often when you see a leopard, they're sleeping in a tree, they're not that active. But it's really cool to be able to be out at night and in a way that's not so obtrusive and in their face where you can really watch the animals be animals and I hope that that kind of technology spreads because that I think the next phase of Noctourism really should focus on making sure that every pillar of Noctourism either helps people, planet, or both. Because that is something that I do worry about because I feel like the world with travel, like animals, all of that gets to rest finally from travelers when it's dark. And so if there's a way where we can be more respectful and make sure that Noctourism benefits local communities, they're the guides. I think that's super important as well.

Raakhee (13:31)

Sue and I were chatting as well and we're trying to understand how, is there a way that noctourism might be more sustainable? And I think you kind of alluded to it earlier as well and love to understand that as well. Like what worries you, but is there a way where our footprint might be lighter at night? And so this might be a good thing from sustainable tourism perspective.

Stephanie (13:54)

I think one thing that makes me really excited about Noctourism is the potential to support local communities, like truly local communities, not, you know, Western company coming in and taking you out after dark. And I actually gave a long presentation about this for the Dark Sky Association, the potential of Noctourism to support local communities. What I have found at least so far is that a lot of local guides are the ones leading these Noctourism tours because they know the area. People might come know the area by day but a world at night is very different. so really excited about the potential to bring more tourism to local entrepreneurs who want to run their own businesses. For example, I was in Minnesota last year in the winter. But I was there for this dark sky festival. And I met this person who started their own, it's basically kind of like the thermal monocular cameras I was talking about, but they use these really cool thermal cameras to look at the stars. So you see basically double the amount of stars that you see with the naked eye.

I love this idea that this person just lives there, knows they have great skies, launched this offering that really isn't launched that many other places and now is making a living almost off of it. I'm not sure if it's a full-time job, but it just shows that there’s so much economic opportunity with night tourism that could be run by locals. And I think that's a really important thing because whether it's in Minnesota or in Thailand, the money doesn't always stay in the community. And so that's a really good opportunity. And I would say too, what I always suggest with nocturnal tourism is to, especially for things that involve wildlife or searching for bioluminescence or honestly anything, because if you're in a new place at night, I know from experience, it can be kind of scary. It's really important to go with a guide.

So I feel like the fact that Noctourism is best experienced with a guide. The local people are the best people to guide at night because they're the ones who know the place. It kind of, it's such a nice marriage of this need for local communities to benefit from Noctourism. That really excites me. And then the other thing I would say is I do think that nighttime tourism, especially astro tourism, can really open our eyes to the problems with light pollution and I don't think a lot of us realize how much we also play a role in light pollution.

Like light pollution is such a problem. It's growing. I believe the stat is 10 % every year, or it has in the past decade just grown and grown 10 % every year. It's just, it's having such devastating effects on the ecology of the world. And so when you travel to a dark sky place and you get to see like one, what the skies look like incredible, but then two, I think that can kind of open the door for conversation about, well, why can't the sky look so different here than at home? Light pollution. You're saying I don't need all of that light? You're saying that I can ask my city and, you know, try to get the community involved in asking the city to dim the lights or change the lights? 

Astro tourism can one inspire you with awe, but then to kind of a take home is, you know, starting that conversation and spreading awareness, trying to do a lot in your community to change that. And I think it's just a good example. And I've seen so many chapters of the dark sky association make headway at home because it's just a bunch of local people who are fed up with the unnecessary light. All of that to say I think that there are definitely negatives like with any kind of travel, but there are also a lot of positives that could help us, could help us, could help the planet, could help animals. I think there's a lot of potential and I'm hopeful that things go well with noctourism.

Sue (17:52)

I think what I'm taking away from this conversation is in my head, I see all these amazing, fantastic images of the night sky all around the world. And I don't think about it in my own backyard, probably precisely because of the light that's in our community. And so I'm really taking away this idea that it's just as important as all this other noctourism travel that you can travel just 50 steps outside where you live. And that's just as important.

Stephanie (18:20)

Yeah, well, I will say one thing with that too is this trend within Noctourism kind of related to astro tourism as well. It's called star bathing. I don't know if you've heard about this, but I wrote about it for Vogue. It’s also called mindful stargazing, but it's soaking up the night sky, whatever you can see, whether it's just the Big Dipper or it's thousands of stars It's just, like I said earlier, being human and just looking at the sky and letting your mind wander through the cosmos and just kind of regaining that perspective. If you're looking up and you're like, wow, that light that we're seeing from the star was there 600 years ago. If it's 600 light years away, you're looking at the past and I just feel like the grounding mindset of stargazing. And again, you don't have to know all of the science. I don't, but I just find like looking up and letting myself be curious, letting my body feel the multi-sensory experiences that you innately have at night. It's meditative and there's several practitioners who are now leading star bathing retreats centered on that. 

At ULUM Resort and Moab actually a couple of weeks ago, I was able to do a star bathing sound bath beneath the night skies of Moab, Utah. Loved it in Moab, but I actually recently started a personal project where I'm forcing myself to spend at least five minutes outside every single night, even when I'm at home, even when there's clouds, because I feel like just being outside at night, it's the most I feel alive in the 24 hours I have every day so, yes, it's great to travel, but I would also argue that, like you said, just as important to do at home, even for five minutes, just to kind of have that reset where you get to be a human and not just this little potato behind a desk working all day.

Sue (20:15)

Yeah, cheers to that. So one question we always like to ask is, in your case, how do you see Noctourism really shaping the future of travel in the next five to 10 years? Like, what might a traveler expect to see?

Stephanie (20:31)

I think it's really exciting, especially if the things I talked about are followed and we'll pretend they are and everyone's doing it sustainably, which I think nine times out of 10 people are. It's, know, just the bad actors always get big screen, I think that what travelers will just see is more opportunities to experience the world at night. I think once people realize that there's money in it

I think it's exciting that there's financial incentive for people to get creative with how they can help people experience the world, whether it's using these weird night cameras that I didn't know existed to see more stars than you knew you could see on a given night. Going out to the woods somewhere and just listening to wolves howl or listening for wolves how you can never guarantee it. We will get to experience the world in such a different way that also speaking of Wolf howls brings to mind something I'm really excited about with this whole Noctourism world is that we will have experiences centered on things other than sight.

And I think we're seeing that like slowly start to grow in global Noctourism is this focus on listening to the world. So I think we'll see more multi-sensory experiences. I hope too that we will have experiences more and more that pair the night sky with outdoor adventure at night. Some thing I went on recently, I was up in the Yukon in Canada and I got to go ice fishing beneath the Northern Lights on a frozen lake. I thought it was so fun to be able to do two night things in one and just see again how people are getting creative and you have that adventure and auroras, but then if the auroras don't show, well, because you're ice fishing. So I thought that was really cool. And then I think we'll also, we'll see a lot more wellness. I've seen, you know, I write about wellness for Vogue, for Business Traveler Magazine, actually I recently pitched a story about the health benefits of darkness and I don't know if you've heard of cave retreats where people are going and spending a lot of time in caves, but that is ⁓ almost like the kind of like getting away from all of that artificial light we don't need in our lives.

I think we'll see more and more wellness experiences that tie in dark skies, that tie in pristine darkness because of how important that is for our circadian rhythms, which are struggling more and more, probably every year with phones, computers, streetlights. And so I think this focused on pure night will also have a big avenue in wellness, along with the star-bathing experiences to just find grounding and perspective and what can feel like a scary world when you look up at the cosmos and just kind of get a better sense of the universe in our little tiny place, little, little, little tiny place in it.

Sue (23:22)

It seems like if things go the way you're hoping, right, in five to 10 years, the creativity, especially from local communities, to have such diverse offerings at night that can really suit many different types of travelers, Yeah, it'll be a really exciting flourishing if that could happen.

Stephanie (23:35)

I hope so. And one thing I'll say too with that, with like the local community tie is something that there's research behind this. I actually wrote an article for Outside Magazine about the power of campfire therapy of people sitting around a campfire and how that's being used to help veterans express themselves better, talk about their pain, addicts who are in recovery talk about their trauma. And so I've noticed this firsthand on a much milder note, of course, but as a way to connect across cultures. When I was in Greenland a couple years ago, I went with this female local guide in South Greenland. And she and I went up to watch for the Northern Lights above the city of Kohartek. I hope I pronounced that right. And I had gone out to dinner before that just to meet each other. I wanted to learn about her. And it was like a very lovely dinner, but a little bit, you know, awkward, like going on a first date, But it was once we were up on that hilltop watching for the auroras and there was that darkness. It's like darkness and being out at night, kind of alleviates that sense of awkwardness and fear because you can't be fully seen. And so we went from this kind of like stilted dinner to this experience where we're watching for Northern Lights. I'm learning that if you whistle in Greenland, it's considered a faux pas because the spirits that they believe in might come down and it's kind of like growing up in the US, they're like, don't say Bloody Mary in the mirror or whatever. That's kind of their like, don't whistle at the Northern Lights.

And then we heard someone whistle and we were giggling like we've been best friends forever. Just because we got to, you know, like sit up there under the dark sky and just being out at night also adds kind of a sense of playfulness. So I think for the traveler traveling with a local guide, it can also help you really like quickly cross that bridge into becoming a friend with your guide, getting more friendly, learning the true culture, just having this experience that you tell for the rest of your life. And so I think that's a really exciting part of the dark too, is just that connection.

Sue (25:49)

So we've got two questions left for you just to round things out. I think one for those watching and listening who might want to start dabbling into noctourism, what's like the first step or two you would recommend for them? And then two is if they're interested to learn more about you, where can they find your work?

Stephanie (26:08)

There are so many incredible nighttime experiences in almost every destination, And so I feel like it doesn't have to be this big thing where you plan a whole new trip around it. I think the first way to start is to just piggyback on that tourism experience on a trip you already have planned or one that's close by. One, that's easy. And then two, I'm sure for 99 % of people that will open their eyes to what else they want to do. And then you might find that you become a very nighttime lover like me and you start planning a lot of your trips around the night sky. Then you start planning your trips around the moon phases because the new moon is better for stargazing. then yeah, you tell your friends, well, we can't go to, you know, so and so in January until the end of the month because of the moon. And they're like, what?

But I think the first step is just start where you are, start where you're going. And you'll be surprised just how many experiences are out there. Like who knew you could see glowing mushrooms in South Australia and there's a whole trail dedicated to that. Who knew that there’s a parade of hundreds of thousands of penguins every single night on a beach in Australia that has a whole amphitheater set up with low light so people can safely watch them. There's so much out there at night and while it's growing, there's also a lot to already experience and it's just so fun. again, I'll plug, go with a local guide, support the local community they're usually a lot stricter to make sure you follow the rules, use the correct light, you're not going off trail, because all of that is so important. I feel like we're in this phase with Noctourism where it's like we don't, we're paving the path for it we don't want it to get taken away from us. So we're like, okay, let's be really good travelers. So I would say just do everything you can to be a good traveler. 

And then where to find my work. I have a video series with National Geographic Travel on Instagram. I recently did one actually on the search for bioluminescence in caves in Thailand. I do all sorts of really cool things that I get to share through that. So it's on Nat Geo Travel Instagram. I'm the astrotourism columnist for Outside Magazine, And my Instagram is probably where I share most stuff and that's at by Stephanie Vermillion. So then you can see my website and everything from there.

Sue (28:36)

Great, thank you so much, Stephanie. It's just been such a pleasure having you. for those of you listening and watching, thank you again for tuning in. As always, leave us a comment on our YouTube page, or you can find us at horizonshiftlab.com. We hope you enjoyed this trip into Noctourism, and we will see you again next time. Thank you.