Hotel prices in Europe have surged ahead of the historic eclipse - FT
Kyiv • UNN
Ahead of the total solar eclipse on August 12, hotel prices in Reykjavik rose by 140%, while in A Coruña they more than doubled. A tourism boom has swept Iceland and Spain, where additional tourist spending of €342 million is expected.
Hotel prices in some cities in Iceland and Spain have more than doubled as tourists flock to see the first total solar eclipse visible from continental Europe this century, the Financial Times reports, writes UNN.
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According to data group Lighthouse, room prices in Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, exceeded $1,000 on average on the night of Wednesday's eclipse—more than 140 percent higher than on the same day in 2025.
After Spain's tourism industry was hit by some of the worst wildfires in 30 years, demand for hotels on the days closer to the total eclipse surged. Prices in the northern Spanish city of A Coruña also more than doubled, while prices in Bilbao and Santiago de Compostela rose by 59 percent and 31 percent, respectively. In Mallorca, where the eclipse will be visible low on the horizon at sunset, prices rose by one-fifth.
"Demand was excessive, and it came from everywhere," said Helga María Albertsdóttir, managing director of Sky Lagoon in Reykjavik, where guests will be able to watch the solar eclipse while sitting in geothermal pools.
Ryan Connolly, co-founder of luxury travel company Hidden Iceland, said he made his first booking for the eclipse back in September 2024. He said he had to start turning down further bookings in March this year because there was already "insane demand and full occupancy across the country."
Icelandair added flights to meet growing demand, particularly from the United States, and will operate "at full peak capacity," according to chief executive Bogi Nils Bogason. Rival airline Delta has also added additional flights from New York to Reykjavik.
Short-term rentals on websites such as Airbnb have also increased: according to analytics company AirDNA, property prices in Iceland's totality zone on the night of the eclipse rose by 53.7% year on year for Icelandic properties
The impact was smaller in Spain, where there is a much larger supply of properties, but rates in the totality zone still rose by an average of 15.8%.
On August 9, occupancy of Airbnb-style accommodation in Spain was fairly scattered but concentrated along the coast; however, bookings in the totality zone are surging for the night of the solar eclipse on August 12.
The Spanish government forecasts that the eclipse will generate an additional €342 million in tourist spending, diverting travelers from southern resort areas to rarely visited parts of the country that lie in the totality zone, such as the deserted interior known as "empty Spain."
However, some parts of the country are still subject to emergency restrictions to prevent wildfires: in Aragon, vehicle traffic and the lighting of fires are restricted, while some natural parks in Valencia are closed.
The tourism surge extends beyond the mainland. Cruise lines, including Princess Cruises and Virgin Voyages, have launched tours to watch the eclipse off the coasts of Spain and Iceland, which have sold out.
Tourists, especially those choosing Iceland over Spain, will be hoping for clear skies, as cloud cover can sharply reduce the visibility of the eclipse. Albertsdóttir of Sky Lagoon said the forecast for Reykjavik is currently "perfect," with only light cloud cover.
Tour operators said bookings are already coming in rapidly, particularly in the Egyptian city of Luxor, for next August's solar eclipse, which has been dubbed the "eclipse of the century." It will be the longest period of totality observable from land until 2114.