Tourism up in Montreal due to total solar eclipse

Montreal finds itself among a select few major cities offering a rare spectacle: the total solar eclipse and according to Tourisme Montréal, hotel occupancy rates for Monday are projected to hover between 70 to 75 per cent.

“We’ve had this eclipse on the radar for probably a year, a year and a half. Didn’t know where to go, didn’t know where to go. We were thinking about Niagara, we were thinking about Texas. And then in the end, we just thought, do you know what, we’re going to go where the weather is going to be the best,” said a woman from London who is in Montreal for the eclipse.

Tourisme Montréal calls it a “huge” increase, as the rate is normally around 55 per cent during this time in April.

“The occupancy rate at 75 per cent for yesterday and today was from the latest report that we have but since the weather is so nice, I’m sure that those numbers are going to go up,” explained Aurélie de Blois, a spokesperson for Tourisme Montréal.

“Two kind of tourists that will be coming to Montreal. There’s the people who are really passionate about astronomy and want to see the eclipse where the weather conditions are the best. And there’s the local tourism. So that’s people from north of the band of totality that like, let’s say people from Quebec City…Val d’Or or Percé, that wanted to go in the band of totality, but in the destination that is near.”

CityNews spoke to several people who made their way to Montreal for the big occasion.

One woman saying “I’m from Michigan and this is my first time in Quebec province, period. I was really excited to be able to come here.”

Another woman from Long Island, New York said, “Because your weather is beautiful and you’re one of the best places weather-wise today for seeing the eclipse.”

A man from Washington, D.C., adding, “We’re here for the eclipse and an opportunity to experience this amazing city.”

Another woman visiting the city saying, “We’re from Rawdon, my husband and I, and we couldn’t wait to come and see the eclipse once in our lifetime.”

Many were lining up outside the Montréal Science Centre to get a pair of solar eclipse glasses.

“It’s also one of the paths of totality. So you get to see the full solar eclipse,” said one kid from Connecticut.

Visitors to Montreal weren’t the only ones making the most of the occasion. “This is an exciting eclipse. Huge, huge celestial power and shifts. Different paradigms. We’re ready. We’re ready,” said one Montreal woman.

It will be the first time the total solar eclipse will be visible in Montreal since 1932. The next one that might be seen here will be in 2205.

“This of course is the greatest show on earth because the band of totality is going right across America. So that’s, I suppose, why we thought it was so important to come to this one.”