Small States Win Big on Eclipse Weekend
In hopes of catching the full effect of a solar eclipse on Monday, August 21, Americans traveled to states that are not usually top destinations. The 2017 solar eclipse drew national anticipation, and many American travelers were determined to witness it from the best views across the country.
Here is an overview and visualization of the impact that the eclipse had on hotel bookings across the USA, developed by Edison Trends. These results were gathered and analyzed days before the 21st.
Hotel Bookings Spike Across the USA

Highest % Increase in Hotel Bookings by State
- South Carolina: 217%
- Tennessee: 168%
- Wyoming: 162%
- Missouri: 147%
- Oregon: 141%
- Idaho: 138%
It’s expected to see a comparative increase in hotel bookings, but how did the smaller states stack up against more densely populated states like Florida and New York?
- California normally sees roughly 6x more hotel reservations than South Carolina — but that lead was cut in half to only 3x on solar eclipse weekend.
- Washington is consistently a top ten state for most hotel reservations per weekend, ahead of Tennessee and the Carolinas, but on solar eclipse weekend it fell behind all three.
- Oregon and Missouri were among the top fifteen states showing highest total national hotel bookings — and they usually fall in the bottom half.
The national data is based on a sample of 2.3 million Americans and measured national hotel booking volume throughout August 2017, to show the market impact of the widely anticipated 2017 solar eclipse event.
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