There were private (rich) people before who got to go into space... what's different this time is that the launches, the vehicles, the passengers everything is private companies.
Space is no longer for national space agencies only - you don't have to become a NASA astronaut
You don't even have to be a millionaire, because the price dropped to a "few" hundred thousands
You can launch your own cubesat ( a small, 10cm X 10cm X 10cm satellite) into space for ... ?