As Americans flocked to witness the total solar eclipse on Monday, states within the path of totality experienced a surge in hotel bookings, with South Carolina, Tennessee and Wyoming experiencing the biggest jump.
South Carolina experienced a 217% increase in hotel bookings for Monday, followed by Tennessee (168%), Wyoming (162%), Missouri (147%), Oregon (141%) and Idaho (138%), according to research compiled by Edison Trends, which measures national consumer purchase patterns.
The data was based on a sample of 2.3 million Americans that measured national hotel booking volume during the month of August.
It showed that the eclipse gave an unprecedented boom in tourism to destinations that don't always experience this much traffic. For instance, according to Edison Trends, Washington consistently ranks in the top ten states for most hotel reservations per any given weekend, ahead of Tennessee, North and South Carolina, but on eclipse weekend it fell behind all three.
Additionally, Oregon and Missouri were among the top fifteen states for total hotel bookings nationally this past weekend, and they usually fall in the bottom half of the rankings.