Who Will Cater to Outer-Space Vacationers?
Once they figure out how to get you there, who’s going to see to your every need, making your vacation in outer space comfortable and enjoyable? “It will be an RIT grad,” promises Francis Domoy, professor and chair of hospitality and service management at Rochester Institute of Technology, which offers the only university-level course in space tourism development. RIT continues to lead the way in the futuristic, but not so far off, business of commercial space tourism. The class and other related courses under development at RIT will prepare students to manage outer-space resorts, which could be a reality before the end of the decade. “RIT is one of the most forward-thinking universities in the country,” says Gene Meyers, founder and president of West Covina, Calif.-based Space Island Group Inc., which plans an outer-space, mixed-use real-estate development venture by 2007. “By the end of the first decade of the new century, tourism and large-scale commercial manufacturing opportunitie
