“A few seconds before the sun was all hid, there discovered itself round the moon a luminous ring about a digit, or perhaps a tenth part of the moon‘s diameter, in breadth. It was of a pale whiteness, or rather pearl-colour, seeming to me a little tinged with the colors of the iris, and to be concentric with the moon.”

Refers to a total solar eclipse of 3 May 1715.
From: Edmund Halley. [via Mr Eclipse]

Did you know that the biggest event in Libyan tourism is happening tomorrow? What about an all-inclusive Solar Eclipse vacation in Ghana? Or maybe Western Turkey instead?

It doesn’t take much to create a phenomenal tourism event. Whether it is a suspect Ivory-billed Woodpecker or a Virgin Mary in the Salt Stain, the right event will get people traveling. The Adirondacks is an awesome place for sure, but we do lack certain gut-wrenchingly tourismagnetic elements. Here’s something we can count on and likely be guaranteed visitation – a total eclipse of the sun.

According to my minimal research we will have a total eclipse on April 8, 2024. The sun will be obscured by the moon for 4’28” somewhere in Mexico and for slightly over 3 minutes when it reaches the Adirondack region. We have less than 20 years to go! That should give us plenty of time to get our packages formed. I wonder how many hotels have ‘blacked-out’ that date? One thing I can predict, there will be more people traveling here for the eclipse than are going to come for any Champlain celebration, 500 400 years or not. (maybe they’ll come for the 500th, but I can’t wait). (Also, I can’t understand why anyone would want to go to a French-Canadian Heritage Festival when actual French-Canadians are minutes away.) Mark your calendars and let’s start making some cool eclipse plans.

Update:

Tens of thousands of tourists …expected along the Turkish Mediterranean coast… (dead link, but also, Turkey doesn’t seem so awesome as a tourism destination these days)

Dare I say that this would be a more worthwhile venture than wasting resources and appointing people to try and get another Winter Olympics? No investment, guaranteed visitation (spectators), free admission, no athletes to profile, no debt, no increased taxes, etc etc.