A state tourism-sponsored study on April’s eclipse tourism says Indiana saw more than 3.5 million visitors to see the solar eclipse. But it also shows most of those tourists were already from Indiana and moving around the state to view the eclipse.
The study says the total economic impact of the total eclipse was $145.8 million, with $45 million of that total coming from federal, state, and local taxes.
Counting people that traveled 50 miles or more to see the eclipse, the Indianapolis area saw the most visitors at 244,762, followed by the Chicago area at 111,546.
The Muncie area sits in the tenth spot with 41,208 visitors. City officials had estimated it would have 100,000 visitors. The study shows only Indianapolis, Chicago, and Fort Wayne saw that many eclipse-seekers.
Read more: A Renaissance-themed eclipse at a southern Indiana airport
Visitor spending through the weekend before and day after the eclipse saw the greatest increase on recreation and entertainment and lodging. Retail businesses that had hoped to see increased spending didn’t see it. Compared to the baseline amount of visitor spending, retail spending dropped by almost 6 percent.
The Indiana Destination Development Corporation paid for the economic impact study conducted by Rockport Analytics from Pennsylvania. The company says it used “geolocation and credit card spend data” as well as lodging statistics and state and local tax reports to compile its data.
Stephanie Wiechmann is our Managing Editor and “All Things Considered” Host. Contact her at slwiechmann@bsu.edu.