The objection to Space tourist terminology

Objection to "Space Tourist" terminology

Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Gregory Olsen and Anousheh Ansari have all preferred to be called something other than "space tourist". In each case, they explained their preferences by pointing out that they carried out scientific experiments as part of their journey. Tito has asked to be known as an "independent researcher". Shuttleworth proposed "pioneer of commercial space travel".Olsen preferred "private researcher." Ansari prefers the term "private space explorer". Alone among those who have paid to go to orbit so far, Charles Simonyi seems to have no concerns about calling it "space tourism", even in reference to his own experience. Asked in an interview "Do you foresee a day when space tourism is not just the province of billionaires - when it will be as affordable as plane travel?", he did not object to the implicit categorization of his own trip, but rather answered "Yes, the only question is when ...." Although many space enthusiasts subscribe to the notion of space tourism as a potential burgeoning industry that could further the development and settlement of space, some of these same enthusiasts object to the use of the term "space tourist". Rick Tumlinson of the Space Frontier Foundation, for example, has said

"I hate the word tourist, and I always will ....
'Tourist' is somebody in a flowered shirt
with three cameras around his neck."

Others with perhaps less enthusiasm for space development seem to agree. Alex Tabarrok has categorized it as a kind of "adventure travel". The mere fact of people paying for a travel experience does not, in his view, make that activity "tourism".

At best and for the foreseeable future space travel
will remain akin to climbing Everest,
dangerous and uncommon. Yes,
we might see 100 flights a year but that's not
space tourism - tourism is fat guys
with cameras