Astrocartography and the cosmological turn in tourism imaginaries

Abstract

Contemporary tourism is increasingly conceptualised as a cultural practice through which meanings of place, self, and mobility are produced and negotiated. Lifestyle tourism media play a central role in circulating travel imaginaries that extend beyond destination representation towards affective and symbolic orientations. This study examines astrocartography as a contemporary travel imaginary through which lifestyle tourism media mediate cosmological narratives and frame travel as a practice of self-orientation and personal alignment. Drawing on a qualitative discourse analysis of 10 lifestyle and travel media articles published between 2024 and 2026, including internationally recognised outlets such as National Geographic, the study approaches astrocartography as a dynamic symbolic framework circulating within lifestyle and tourism media. The analysis identifies three interconnected discursive patterns: the framing of the cosmos as a symbolic guide for spatial orientation; the construction of travel as personal alignment and transformation; and the legitimisation of astrocartography through aestheticised cartographies and science-adjacent language. The study contributes to tourism scholarship by demonstrating how cosmological meaning is mediated through contemporary tourism imaginaries and symbolic geographies.