If you’re planning an event in Texas for spring 2024, you need to book rooms now. North America’s first total solar eclipse in seven years will be visible from Texas, along with fourteen other states and parts of Mexico and Canada. While this might not be a major event for your clients, it will have a major impact on the meeting and event planning industry.
An eclipse is visible from certain locations only, and of those locations, some are better than others. Areas in the path of the solar eclipse viewing include the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Waco, the Hill Country, Austin, and San Antonio. Almost 13 million people live in the path of totality, where the eclipse will be seen in its entirety, according to the Great American Eclipse information site.
In Texas, a huge swath of the state is expected to fill with hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the country—even from around the world—as the eclipse nears. It is a unique opportunity to see the corona of the sun during the total eclipse. The last time there was a total solar eclipse visible from the continental United States was 2017, and the next one won’t happen until 2044.
For meeting planners, the event will mean that much of Texas will be completely booked and overwhelmed with tourists during April 2024. Spring is a popular time to visit the state due to the mild weather. Even Texas state parks will be taking reservations for the event beginning in early December and are expected to fill quickly. Chain hotels in many small cities are already full, including Kerrville, a small city in the Hill Country in the path of totality. Other cities still have rooms but, as is the case with San Marcos near Austin and San Antonio, rooms are running upward of $500 per night.
