Space trips 'could make Scots town a world tourism destination'

A SCOTS town best-known for its airbase could become a world- famous tourist destination rivalling Egypt's pyramids, an expert claimed yesterday.

Professor Ian Yeoman, scenario planning manager for VisitScotland, said the prospect of space tourists blasting off from RAF Lossiemouth could transform the Moray community by as soon as 2012.

Virgin Galactic, Sir Richard Branson's firm, plans to make the first space tourist flights from New Mexico in 2009 with seats being booked for 100,000.

If that is a success, the next stage would be to look at launch sites in Europe, with Sweden and Scotland the two options. RAF Lossiemouth is the preferred location north of the Border.

Professor Yeoman said the European flights would probably cost about 25,000 per head. This would cover a three-day trip, including preparation and training, and a half-day trip into the stratosphere.

Speaking at a public lecture on space tourism in Forres yesterday, he predicted that such travel could make Lossiemouth an "iconic destination" known around the world.

"People wouldn't talk about Scotland, they would talk about Lossiemouth," he said.

"People would be comparing it with something like the pyramids. It would be a Top 10 tourism experience in world terms."

Professor Yeoman admitted there were no guarantees that the Virgin Galactic project would proceed, but remained upbeat about its potential.

He said: "Today, in terms of probability, I think it 25 per cent that it will happen. But if you spoke to me five years ago I would have said the probability was zero.

"The pace of change is now so fast that things that you think of as being science fiction and may not happen actually do happen. It's no longer a dream, it's moving towards reality.

"People are talking about space tourism being the new experience, the new destination.

"There is a market there and the technology is there. So everything is coming together."

Moray MP Angus Robertson, who attended the seminar, said it was an exciting project which he plans to discuss with Virgin Galactic and the government. "Even if the chances are just 25 per cent this is definitely something we need to look into."