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Indiana did not see an influx of traffic on solar eclipse day like predicted. What happened?

I ndiana State Police expected thousands of visitors to view the total solar eclipse. Governor Eric Holcomb even signed and emergency order. But the state didn't see nearly the number of tourists expected.

The April 8 solar eclipse was predicted to be big day for Indiana tourism, and while in many ways it still was, the crowds were not what local officials predicted.

Here's what happened during the 2024 total solar eclipse.

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Read more from the Herald-Times: Eclipse day was sunny in Indiana. Where were the crowds?

Bloomington's numbers were lower than expected

Instead of 300,000 spectators, as multiple officials projected, Bloomington saw tens of thousands, according to early estimates, The Herald-Times reported .

While the smaller-than-expected crowds enabled the city to escape snarled traffic, the overestimates also kept some Bloomington residents from leaving their homes and attending the local events,  including those at Switchyard Park and Memorial Stadium .

At the Bloomington Police Department, officers of all ranks were scheduled to work 12-hour shifts. But they were cut to 10 hours as the day progressed and the anticipated crowds failed to appear.

Nashville also saw lower numbers than predicted

Between 50,000 and 100,000 eclipse viewers were expected in Nashville and Brown County, an estimated 20,000 showed up.

Indianapolis saw the most tourists, but still lower than estimated

Indiana State Police told IndyStar in March they were expecting about as much traffic for the eclipse as the city sees for the Indy 500, which can be anywhere from 200,000 to 250,000 visitors.

Clare Clark, senior communications manager for Visit Indy, confirmed that Indianapolis welcomed 125,000 visitors for the eclipse, with representation from all 50 states and 35 countries.

Why was solar eclipse viewing attendance lower than expected?

According to NASA, the path of totality for this year’s eclipse was between 108 and 122 miles wide, or about 72% wider, at the high end, than the eclipse in 2017. This year, about 31.6 million people lived in the path of totality, compared with 12 million in 2017.

The eclipse this year also passed over “more cities and densely populated areas” than in 2017, NASA said.

That meant people had more options as to where to travel, reducing the likelihood of congestion for any particular area.

Several Indiana cities had reported chances of cloud cover during the eclipse, which may have also been a reason fewer tourists came to Indiana, but neither Indianapolis or Bloomington ended up having any clouds block the view of the solar event.

Schools being closed for the day also helped reduce normal traffic in cities.

Local events, tourism still saw success despite fewer visitors than planned

Despite getting fewer visitors than planned, several cities in the state still saw great success.

Airbnb said Indianapolis was the #1 most booked destination within the path of totality and there was a virtual sell-out of hotel rooms on Sunday night ahead of the eclipse, Visit Indy said.

Visit Indy also broke their record for the most website traffic in a single day on the day of the eclipse, meaning tourists and locals were looking for things to do.

Mike McAfee, executive director of Visit Bloomington, said hotels and short-term rentals were “near capacity,” though he won’t have final data until later this month.

IU spokesman Mark Bode said the university hosted “tens of thousands of visitors and students across at least seven separate events,” including “nearly 10,000” at Memorial Stadium.

Katie Wiseman is a trending news intern at IndyStar. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @itskatiewiseman .

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana did not see an influx of traffic on solar eclipse day like predicted. What happened?

Travel | Cruise demand leaves pandemic in rearview with…

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Subscriber only, travel | cruise demand leaves pandemic in rearview with record passengers, more construction on tap.

MIAMI BEACH — The COVID pandemic drove the cruise industry to a standstill, but numbers released Tuesday signal the years of comeback are officially over with more expansion on tap.

More than 31.7 million passengers took cruises worldwide in 2023, said Kelly Craighead, Cruise Line International Association president and CEO, speaking at the annual Seatrade Cruise Global conference at Miami Beach Convention Center.

CLIA is the lobbying group for member cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, Disney Cruise Line, Carnival, Norwegian, MSC and most other major brands.

The pandemic shut down sailing from March 2020 with only a small number of ships coming back online 18 months later in summer 2021. Cruise lines didn’t return to full strength until partially through 2022, so it wasn’t until a full year of sailing in 2023 that the industry could get a real handle on just what the demand had grown to as people returned to vacation travel.

“We are an industry that’s resilient and thriving all around the world, breaking records in ways we might never have imagined,” she said.

The 2023 total is 2 million more than the industry had in 2019. CLIA projects 34.1 million in 2024 growing to 34.6 million in 2025. It’s still a miniscule chunk of the overall travel pie of more than 1.3 billion, but cruise’s share is growing.

She noted that surveys of travelers who would consider a cruise for a vacation are at an all-time high, noting that 82% who had previously cruised said they would cruise again, but more importantly, among those who had never sailed, 71% would consider it.

The youngest generations — Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z — are the biggest drivers.

The fleet for the growing demand continues as well, including the introduction this year of the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas.

She said CLIA member lines had more than 300 ships sailing globally for the first time in 2023, with 14 new ships that began sailing in 2023 and another eight expected before the end of the year. They have 88 new ships on order through 2028.

Already this year, both Royal Caribbean Group and Carnival Corp. announced major new ship construction deals, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings added to that this week with its order of eight more vessels across its three brands.

The heads of those groups were on stage to discuss where the industry is headed and enjoy their recent success.

Carnival Corp.’s president and CEO Josh Weinstein put it in a way that gained plaudits from fellow panelists and others at the conference.

“The concept of pent-up demand for cruising is gone,” he said. “We have been cruising for three years, right? It’s over. This is natural demand because we all provide amazing experiences. We delivered happiness to literally 31 million guests last year. And people see it, they feel it.”

A big part of what cruising missed during the pandemic he said was that word-of-mouth promotion that is needed to convince people to try their product.

“We now have 31 million people getting off our ships and going home and telling their friends and family who have never cruised before, ‘You don’t know what you’re missing.’ ‘This is amazing.'”

All of the leaders echoed the industry line that they offer a much better value than land-based vacations, but that the experience gap between the two has now shifted in their favor coming out of the pandemic.

“The appreciation for building memories with your friends and family coming out of COVID is at extraordinarily high levels,” said Jason Liberty, president & CEO at Royal Caribbean Group. “Also wealth transfer, right? Grandparents wanting to see that wealth transfer live, watching their kids and their grandkids experience that is also at an all-time high. … We have the secular trends of people buying less stuff, they want experiences. We’re in the experience business.”

Another bright aspect to the industry has been the spillover effect of all of the new ships since the pandemic, said Harry Sommer, president & CEO at Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

“Their new products are so extraordinary, and so much better than what was delivered back in ’15, ’16 and ’17, that it’s driving additional excitement for the entire industry,” Somer said. “When any new ship is delivered, no matter whether it’s part of our portfolio or the other portfolios, demand improves for all of us because it adds excitement to the industry.”

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Delta Air Lines posts a narrow Q1 profit and says travel demand remains strong despite flight scares

FILE - A Delta Air Lines plane lands at Logan International Airport, Jan. 26, 2023, in Boston. Delta reports earnings on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

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Delta Air Lines eked out a narrow first-quarter profit and said Wednesday that demand for travel is strong heading into the summer vacation season, with travelers seemingly unfazed by recent incidents in the industry that ranged from a panel blowing off a jetliner in flight to a tire falling off another plane during takeoff.

Delta reported the highest revenue for any first quarter in its history and a $37 million profit. It expects record-breaking revenue in the current quarter as well. The airline said that second-quarter earnings will likely beat Wall Street expectations.

CEO Ed Bastian said Delta’s best 11 days ever for ticket sales occurred during the early weeks of 2024.

If travelers are worried about a spate of problem flights and increased scrutiny of plane maker Boeing , “I haven’t seen it,” Bastian said in an interview. “I only look at my numbers. Demand is the healthiest I’ve ever seen.”

A slight majority of Delta’s fleet of more than 950 planes are Boeing models, but in recent years it has bought primarily from Airbus , including a January order for 20 big Airbus A350s. As a result, Delta will avoid the dilemma facing rivals United Airlines and American Airlines, which can’t get all the Boeing planes they ordered. United is even asking pilots to take unpaid time off in May because of a plane shortage.

“Airbus has been consistent throughout these last five years (at) meeting their delivery targets,” Bastian said.

Delta does not operate any Boeing 737 Max jets, the plane that was grounded worldwide after two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, and which suffered the panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight this year. However, the Atlanta-based airline has ordered a new, larger version of the Max that still hasn’t been approved by regulators. Bastian said Delta will be happy to use the Max 10 when they arrive.

While Delta has largely dodged headaches caused by Boeing, it faces other obstacles in handling this summer’s crowds.

Delta is lobbying the federal government to again allow it to operate fewer flights into the New York City area. Otherwise, Delta could lose valuable takeoff and landing slots.

The Federal Aviation Administration granted a similar request last summer and even extended it until late October . The FAA said the relief helped airlines reduce canceled flights at the region’s busy three main airports by 40%.

Peter Carter, an executive vice president who oversees government affairs, said Delta and other airlines need another waiver permitting fewer flights this summer because the FAA still doesn’t have enough air traffic controllers.

“Absent the waiver, I think we would have, as an industry, some real challenges in New York,” Carter said.

Airlines for America, a trade group of the major U.S. carriers, is also pushing for a waiver from rules on minimum flights in New York. The FAA said it would review the request.

Delta customers will see another change — a new system for boarding planes . Instead of boarding by groups with names such as Diamond Medallions, Delta Premium Select and Sky Priority, passengers will board in groups numbered one through eight. The airline says it will be less confusing.

“When you have a number and you’re standing in line, we are all trained to know when it’s our turn,” Bastian said.

The change won’t alter the pecking order of when each type of customer gets to board. Those with the cheapest tickets, Basic Economy, will still board last.

Delta’s first-quarter profit follows a $363 million loss a year ago, when the results were weighed down by spending on a new labor contract with pilots.

“We expect Delta to be one of the few airlines to report a profit in the March quarter,” TD Cowen analyst Helane Becker said even before Delta’s results were released.

Delta said that excluding special items, it earned 45 cents per share. Analysts were expecting 36 cents per share, according to a FactSet survey.

The airline forecast second-quarter earnings of $2.20 to $2.50 per share. The Wall Street consensus was $2.22 per share. The company stood by its forecast of full-year earnings between $6 and $7 per share.

First-quarter revenue rose 8%, to $13.75 billion. Putting Delta’s Pennsylvania refinery aside, operating revenue was slightly more than analysts predicted. The airline said second-quarter revenue will be 5% to 7% higher than a year ago.

The airline reported that large corporate customers — who were slower than leisure travelers to resume flying after the coronavirus pandemic — are spending more on travel, including firms in technology and financial services.

Delta has boosted profit by focusing more on premium passengers who pay the highest fares, and raking in money from a credit-card partnership with American Express.

Costs could rise too, however. Jet fuel is higher than it was a year ago, following a run-up in oil prices, and Delta is spending more on aircraft maintenance this year.

Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc. fell 2.3% by the end of regular trading Wednesday.

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Thais favour trips to China for Songkran following visa waiver

Tuesday, 16 Apr 2024

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Foreign arrivals in Thailand surpass 10-million mark this year; Malaysians second biggest visitors after China

Thailand now ranked second in food tourism but still behind frontrunner japan, according to international survey, thailand's democrat party deny they have strike a deal with former pm thaksin in joining govt coalition.

BANGKOK: KTC World Travel Service unveiled insights that during the Songkran festival, Thais have been increasingly travelling to China, particularly Guangzhou and Shanghai, following the introduction of Thai-Chinese visa waivers.

Moreover, total KTC credit card spending in the travel category increased by 15% in the first quarter of 2024, with the travel agent sector leading in spending growth.

Pattheera Anandchotiphatchara, Head of KTC World Travel Service and Airline Travel Marketing, “KTC” or Krungthai Card Public Company Limited, revealed that due to the visa exemption measures between Thailand and the People's Republic of China, there has been a notable increase in travel plans during the Songkran Festival, between April 12, 2024, and April 16, 2024.

Members have shown greater interest in travelling to destinations within the People's Republic of China through KTC World Travel Service.

The 5 main routes for which members have chosen to reserve airline tickets and purchase other travel service products are Hong Kong/ Taipei/ Guangzhou/ Shanghai, and Hanoi/ Seoul, respectively. This shift contrasts with the Songkran festival in 2023, where Taipei City, Hokkaido, and Fukuoka City were the top 3 destinations.

Meanwhile, KTC credit card total spending in the travel category increased by 15% in the first quarter of 2024 year-over-year. The travel category now holds second in the total credit card spending portfolio, following the insurance category.

Among the various spending categories, the travel agent, airline, and hotel categories hold the highest proportion of spending, respectively.

Simultaneously, KTC credit card spending abroad increased by 18% during the first quarter of 2024 year-over-year.

The travel routes with the highest spending were Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, respectively.

Following the opening of the country, China has experienced significant spending growth and is now ranked among the top 10 countries with the highest spending. - The Nation/ANN

Tags / Keywords: Thailand , China , Songkran , visa , waiver

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