Solar eclipse: Economic impact in South Carolina is $269M

The total solar eclipse that brought more than one million travelers to the state of South Carolina left an additional $269 million at the Palmetto State's door.

Of the 1.6 million travelers who traveled to or within the state, most caught the eclipse in the Greenville, Charleston and Columbia areas.

The economic impact across the state totaled an estimated $269 million, left from hotel bookings and travel expenditures.

The impact makes the eclipse the greatest single tourist event on record in South Carolina, according to new research released this week by the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.

“Not only does this research confirm what our indicators hinted at weeks ago, it puts the picture into sharper focus, adding more definition to the eclipse’s total impact,” Duane Parrish, director of SCPRT, said in a statement.

The survey said more than half of South Carolina residents left their residences to see the eclipse in another in-state location. Out-of-state visitors were primarily from Georgia, North Carolina and Florida.

Nancy Breede with Visit Greenville said the countrywide hotel occupancy on the Sunday before the eclipse was 96 percent, followed by 95 percent on the Monday of the eclipse — "a record setter."

Businesses open that day in downtown Anderson during the eclipse reported holiday-like numbers. The owner of Palmetto Distillery likened sales to Christmastime while the CocoBon Chocolatier's owner said his numbered resembled those he normally sees at Valentine's Day.

Close to half of out-of-state travelers and one-third of state residents took in the eclipse at a park, mountain site or coast.

Others participated in an organized eclipse event, and another 3.8 million residents did not travel, but saw the eclipse from where they live, the release said.

The data did not include international visitors.

Data was retrieved from STR Inc., the SMARI Survey of S.C. Eclipse Travelers and SCPRT's room inventory database.

The survey was conducted in states across the east coast.

Those who responded to the survey rated their eclipse-viewing experience in South Carolina as "good" or "excellent," and some even described their time as "unique" and "amazing."

Though, not all were so lucky.

The research said some rated their experience as "fair" or "poor," mostly due to bad weather.

Anna B. Mitchell contributed to this report. Follow Maayan Schechter on Twitter @MaayanSchechter.