Space tourism refers to the concept of paying customers traveling into space. It is also labeled
as “personal spaceflight” or public space travel. Inaccessible to the common man for decades,
space tourism finally became a reality in April 2001 when American businessman Dennis Tito
paid US $20M to fly to space. Today, a number of competitors are vying to be in pole position as
the space tourism market looks like taking off. In this case document, we describe the broad
trends in the suborbital space tourism market, and examine the motivations and payoffs for
those seeking fun and adventure in space. In particular, we look at the emergent strategy of one
of the major consumer-oriented players in the market, Virgin Galactic.
Keywords: Suborbital space travel, Blue ocean strategy, Space tourism