Waco eclipse festival saw $410K in ticket, merch revenue

Most of the city's visitors came from out of state that weekend, a reversal of the city's normal visitor trends, and several area attractions doubled their normal visitor numbers, the director said of Convention and Tourism, Dan Quandt, in an update Wednesday at the Waco Convention and Visitors Bureau Commission.

“We're very pleased with the number of visitors we've attracted to our city,” Quandt said. “The Mayborn Museum saw a 150% increase in visitors, the Waco Mammoth Site saw a 190% increase and the zoo had a 100% increase in visitors the previous weekend and the day of the eclipse” .

Quandt also reported large numbers of visitors from other states and international travelers.

“Typically eight out of 10 visitors come to Waco from other Texas cities and 38 percent from Dallas-Fort Worth, but for the eclipse our No. 1 city was Houston and No. 2 was Los Angeles,” he said. said Quandt. “That weekend 80% of our visitors were from out of state.”

Waco hosted a series of events leading up to the total eclipse, including three nights of free concerts at Indian Spring Park and science-focused events at the Waco Convention Center. For the day of the eclipse, the city teamed up with Baylor University, NASA, Discovery Inc. and Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona for the “Eclipse Over Texas: Live From Waco” festival outside McLane Stadium. It hosted around 14,000 visitors who took advantage of the opportunity for talks by scientists and views through solar telescopes throughout the day.

Headliners for the pre-eclipse concert series included the likes of Dwight Yoakam, Arrested Development, Big Boi and Lukas Nelson, with a total of $422,000 approved for their contracts.

More details about the eclipse festivities and preparations will continue to emerge in the coming weeks.

Hotel tax receipts won't be known until reports for the entire month of April are complete, and the City of Waco is scheduled to receive a May 7 presentation with more tourism numbers and all departments of the city about what they spent for the eclipse and the previous weekend. How much did he say

This month's numbers aren't ready yet, but for this fiscal year through March, the Convention and Visitors Bureau stayed in the fund nearly $380,000, with revenue of about $4.59 million. dollars and expenses of about 4.21 million dollars.

The bureau's account for “other purchased services” saw an increase of about $677,000 for the current fiscal year to date compared to last year due to eclipse festival expenses, according to the update presented on Wednesday.

“We're in the business of selling memorabilia,” Quandt said after Wednesday's meeting. “We sell the memories and experiences that people from 80 to 8 will have and then say, I have to go back to Waco.”

Tourism commission members Karli Fletcher and Justin Edwards, who hold seats representing hotels, travel and tourism, reported favorable comments from guests at their hotels for the eclipse.

“Our guests boarded the shuttle to see the attractions and came back to rave about the city,” said Fletcher.

Edwards said that with nightly rates much higher than usual, he expected complaints, but was surprised.

“Our guests were very pleased with the concerts and the eclipse experience at Touchdown Alley,” said Edwards.