Was the total solar eclipse as good for the economy as predicted?

FREDRICKSBURG, Texas (KXAN) – Fredericksburg Mayor Jeryl Hoover said some city officials were preparing for the total solar eclipse on April 8 for as long as two years. 

“We thought, ‘Well, Fredericksburg is already popular with visitors so probably there are people everywhere planning to come to Fredericksburg,’” Hoover said. “We overestimated the people who would come, but we [still] did well,” he continued. 

Hoover said some estimated the small town of around 12,000 people could have seen an additional 100,000 people come to the city to watch the celestial event. 

“In the town itself, there were [29,500],” he said. “I guess we would consider it on the low end of what we expected. But we were very happy with the post-event reports where we had almost no problems with EMS calls, car wrecks, or bad behavior.”

Bad weather dampens turnout?

“As an economist, but also as a former baseball player, we're always kind of dictated by the weather,” said Matt Patton, an economist with AngelouEconomics. “If it's raining or cloudy, that means people tend to not turn out, especially when the whole idea is to to see something in the sky.” 

Patton said it is good for the Texas economy when people travel from out of state and spend money here. 

“It was the opportunity to bring folks in from out of state, to spend their dollars that are otherwise spent in Oklahoma, Arkansas or Kansas,” he said. 

But since there were clouds in the forecast for Central Texas, Patton said it could have deterred some from making the trip. 

“If there’s some inclement weather or crowds weren't quite what everyone was hoping for, then it can be viewed as a [disappointing] moment,” he said. “But the reality is that there were still a lot of folks that came in from out of state, and we otherwise don't get that spending and then the tax dollar generation,” he added. 

Hoover said even though the crowds weren’t as big as predicted, Fredericksburg’s economy still got quite the boost from the solar event. 

“We did well. We did well with sales tax, restaurant sales and attendance,” he said. 

For one, Hoover said there was a 268% increase in restaurant sales. 

“That really helped our business owners – probably made the spring for them,” Hoover said.