Solar eclipse’s impact on hotels, tourism in Cape Girardeau

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) –  Candlewood Suites General Manager Derick Charles said reservations came early and often for next month’s solar eclipse. 

“We’ve actually been sold out for pretty much a year,” he said. “We’ve got people coming in and we’re sold out for basically three to four days.” 

Those reservations have come from far and wide. 

“We’ve got reservations from Australia, London,” Charles said.

Joshua Thompson with Visit Cape estimated about 20,000 people will be in town for the eclipse, which is up by about 9,000 from the last eclipse. 

Both Thompson and Charles said the eclipse is a wonderful opportunity to show visitors what Cape has to offer. 

“We’re excited about getting to see all these new faces and getting to share the Cape Girardeau community with them,” Charles said.

“These are a lot folks who maybe have never visited Cape Girardeau before, so this is a good introduction to allowing more people to visit Cape and see what it’s all about and hopefully in the future want to make another stay when hotels aren’t so hard to get,” Thompson said.