Space Tourism Market Size to Grow $7 Billion by 2027

22-12-22

The global space tourism market size is estimated to increase by USD 6,959.36 million from 2022 to 2027. The market's growth momentum will progress at a CAGR of almost 14.1%.

The global space tourism market is concentrated, with the presence of several global as well as regional vendors. A few prominent vendors that offer space tourism in the market are Airbus Group SE, Axiom Space Inc., Bigelow Aerospace LLC, Blue Origin Enterprises LP, Excalibur Almaz Ltd., PD AeroSpace Ltd., Sierra Space Corp., Space Adventures Inc., Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Space Perspective, The Boeing Co., Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., World View Enterprises Inc., Zero 2 Infinity SL, and Zero Gravity Corp. and others.

The global space tourism market is at its growing stage. The market requires high investments, advanced technologies, and significant technical expertise to design fully functional space tourism. The possibility of a change in the dominance of key vendors is low as there are many difficulties in developing and designing space tourism. However, there exists a high scope for technological advances and the implementation of innovative alternative approaches to design space tourism. Such growing advances will drive the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Technavio has segmented the market based on type, type (Suborbital tourism and Orbital tourism), and technology (Innovators, Early adopters, and Early majority).

The market share growth of suborbital tourism will be higher than the other segments during the forecast period. Space travel is inherently a risky proposition. Though the flights meet the government-mandated safety regulation, the regulations are only theoretical and cannot completely assume safety.

The training required for suborbital space tourism prior to the launch varies from 1-4 weeks. The cost of a spaceflight ticket ranges from $100,000 to $500,000, which is only a fraction of the cost that NASA has to incur to send astronauts into space. This is expected to decline further in the future as the second generation of space crafts is expected to streamline the process and provide better experiences at a lower cost. Thus, the aforementioned factors will drive the market during the forecast period. 

By geography, the global space tourism market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of World (ROW). The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all regions to the growth of the global space tourism market.

North America will account for 52% of the global space tourism market growth during the forecast period. The evolution of space tourism concepts is expected to drive the development of space tourism technology in North America since most major space tourism stakeholders, such as SpaceX, are based in this region. The company is aggressively advancing its space-related technologies in collaboration with various other regional and intercontinental space industry stakeholders. Therefore, it can be concluded that enduring investments in orbital space tourism technologies will also nurture the development of technologies related to space tourism in North America, which, in turn, will drive the growth of the regional market during the forecast period. Since the beginning of 2021, there has been a rise in space research activities, which has propelled the demand for space tourism in the region. Thus, the regional space tourism market is expected to grow during the forecast period.

Leading drivers - Increased spending on travel and tourism is notably driving the space tourism market growth. Adventure tourism is the fastest-growing segment in the travel and tourism industry. Adventure tourism has a degree of risk associated with it, and space tourism can be considered a risky prospect. The expenditure on travel and tourism is expected to increase during the forecast period as consumers have started going to tourist places post the lifting of COVID-19-related lockdowns. This will drive the growth of the market during the forecast period. Many companies have started to invest in space tourism. In addition, the number of people interested in space tourism is expected to increase during the forecast period. Thus, the demand for space tourism is expected to increase during the forecast period.

Key trends - Decreasing the costs of space tourism is a major trend in the space tourism market. Virgin Galactic is expected to conduct space tours for passengers for $0.25 million per person, and institutes are expected to sign up to fly experiments on these suborbital flights. The cost of getting into space will decline rapidly if the next generation of space planes can reach orbit. This will considerably reduce the cost of launching satellites or space exploration missions, making it an economically viable option for a larger customer segment. In addition, the reduced cost can give access to vendors to launch multiple nanosatellites in the solar system. Thus, the aforementioned factors will drive the market during the forecast period.

Major challenges - High risks associated with space tourism are the major challenge impeding the space tourism market growth.  Space tourism is an expensive activity, and the target audience for space tourism is high-net-worth individuals. The target consumer segment has the capability to pay for tours such as mountain climbing or skydiving. The preference for activity also depends on the availability of the activity, physical fitness, and risks associated with it, apart from affordability, which is not an issue in the target market. If we consider both the parameters, i.e., participation and risk coefficient (excluding space tourism), the scalar value of the correlation coefficient is very high, at 88%. However, the correlation is negative, indicating that the higher the risk, the lower the participation. Hence, the high risk involved in space tourism will hamper the growth of the market during the forecast period.