Solar Eclipse Is Europe’s Star Tourism Magnet

Necks will be craned in Spain today but it has nothing to do with seeing the towers at the Sagrada Família. Mainland Europe is having its first total solar eclipse since 1999, followed by a meteor shower. The eclipse will be visible around sunset this evening in parts of Spain and Iceland.

The locales in the path of totality—where the moon blocks the sun entirely—are experiencing astronomical tourism spikes. These include the Spanish cities of Valencia, Bilbao, A Coruña, and Zaragoza, as well as Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík.

Icelandair and Delta both added Reykjavík flights from the US in advance of the eclipse, and hotel prices in the city today are 140% higher than a year ago. Meanwhile, Spain is expecting 460,000 visitors from overseas and an extra $395 million in spending from eclipse chasers.

Filling ‘empty Spain’

The eclipse’s path is through parts of Spain that are just a bit more populated than the moon, boosting tourism in places usually overlooked by paella pilgrims:

• Hotel prices in the historic town of Soria soared sixfold from last week, according to El País.
• The mountain village of Somosierra, with a population of 93 people, is expecting up to 2,000 visitors, as it is one of the closer places to Madrid in the path of totality.

It’s good for business, but…many visitors are heading to the driest parts of the country, threatening to exacerbate wildfire risk—and anti-tourism sentiment. Some local authorities are preparing by restricting parking, while others have closed rural footpaths and banned barbecuing.

This is just the beginning of Spain’s solar windfall. Spain’s tourism authorities are actively promoting two more eclipses that will be visible in the Iberian Peninsula in the next 500 days—one of them featuring a “ring of fire,” in which the sun forms a shining rim around the moon.

If you’re not in Spain or Iceland today…a partial eclipse will be visible in other parts of Europe and in 26 US states. Here’s how to see it from North America. Be sure to use protective equipment to avoid eye damage.—SK

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