Spain's Eclipse: A Three-Year Tourism Strategy Built Around Two Minutes of Darkness

After a punishing summer of heatwaves and deadly wildfires, Spain faces a new test with the total solar eclipse crossing the country on August 12. Rather than promote the event aggressively—given acute overtourism concerns and record projections of 100 million visitors this year—Spanish tourism leaders are treating the eclipse as an opportunity to disperse demand toward lesser-known interior and northern destinations away from the saturated Mediterranean coast. Data shows strong momentum: hotel bookings up as much as 76% and prices nearly 90% ahead of last year, with growth concentrated in the "totality corridor" (León, Burgos, Bilbao, Valencia, the Balearics) and northern coastal cities. W…