Hotel prices have rocketed in eclipse viewing hotspots as Europe has been gripped by blackout fever. Tourism has exploded and room rates more than doubled in Iceland and Spain where the event is expected to produce total light wipeout.
Legions of Brits have jetted off to get the best possible view of the Moon blocking out the Sun across Europe for the first time this century. The room rush has been most fiercely felt at destinations along the path of totality.
That falls under the narrow shadow cast across Earth's surface by the Moon when its orbit moves it in front of the Sun. Anyone under that path is likely to witness a total solar eclipse of around two minutes when the skies go dark as the Sun disappears.
Eclipse fever sweeping Europe
It will begin at the tip of Siberia in Russia before curving around between Iceland and Greenland and ending on the Spanish islands of Majorca and Menorca before the shadow disappears in the Mediterranean Sea as the Sun sets.
Rooms in Icelandic capital Reykjavík were priced at more than £750 for tonight’s event - up 140% on rates on the same date last year, according to data analysts Lighthouse.
Helga Maria Albertsdóttir, managing director of Reykjavík’s Sky Lagoon where guests will watch the eclipse while sitting in geothermal pools, said: “There has been excessive demand and it’s been coming from everywhere.”
Demand surges in Iceland
Ryan Connolly, co-founder of luxury travel company Hidden Iceland, said he took his first eclipse booking two years ago. He had to start turning down further reservations this March as business was ‘frantic’ and hotels were ‘full across the whole country’, he added.
Most of his customers will watch the eclipse from the Reykjanes Peninsula following a day of volcano exploration. Icelandair added flights to cater for the surge in demand, particularly from the US, and would be operating at ‘full peak capacity’, according to chief executive Bogi Nils Bogason. Rival airline Delta added extra flights from New York to Reykjavík.
Short-term rentals of Icelandic properties on sites such as Airbnb have rocketed 53.7%, according to analytics company AirDNA. The eclipse is expected to give Spain’s struggling tourist industry a boost after it was hit by its worst wildfires in 30 years.
Spain sees price hikes
Hotel prices in the northern Spanish city of A Coruña have more than doubled while rates in Bilbao and Santiago de Compostela were up 59% and 31% respectively.
In Majorca - where the eclipse will be visible low on the horizon at sunset - rates were up by a fifth. The Spanish government hopes it will trigger a £300m tourist spending boost drawing travellers away from southern holiday hotspots to rarely visited parts of the country that lie within the path of totality.
Cruise giants have also benefitted with Princess and Virgin Voyages reporting sold-out trips to view the eclipse off the coasts of Spain and Iceland.
Partial eclipse across Europe
Though the total eclipse will only be visible along a narrow path the area covered by a partial eclipse will stretch across almost the whole of Europe - allowing Brits to view it from their gardens. Dublin will see a partial eclipse covering 94% of the Sun, Paris 92%, London 90%, Berlin 85%.
