HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) – Upwards of 3.7 million people are expected to travel to have a look at the total eclipse within the United States on April 8, according to GreatAmericanEclipse.com.
As parts of Texas will be within the “path of totality,” a thin path where the moon will completely cover the sun, thousands of tourists are expected to inundate the area. In order to ensure businesses are ready for that influx, the Kyle Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon to help them prepare.
“The Kyle community is going to see a large impact on the restaurants; hotels are already sold out,” said Julie Snyder, President of the Kyle Area Chamber of Commerce. “We believe that it’s going to impact the economy in a positive way as long as [business owners] are prepared,” she continued.
Kyle’s Emergency Management Coordinator, William Paiz-Tabash, said his biggest concern is traffic flowing through the city once the event has concluded.
“There are cascading effects from just traffic,” Paiz-Tabash said. “Traffic is a wear on your transportation infrastructure, traffic gets in the way of emergency vehicles getting to where they need to go, [and] traffic is increased demand for all the services that we rely on,” he said.