GOSHEN COUNTY – Overall, Wyoming communities saw a positive economic impact as a result of the Great American Eclipse, according to a study released by the Wyoming Office of Tourism Monday.
“We knew that Wyoming was going to be the top destination for many people who wanted to view the total solar eclipse,” Diane Shober, executive director for the Wyoming Office of Tourism, said in a press release. “As a result of this study, we can confidently say that this year’s eclipse brought millions of dollars to Wyoming – in a five-day period out of a 31-day month – in travel expenditures and impacted every single county in our state.”
Locally, sales tax collections suggest a slight bump in revenue, but the event does not appear to be the “cash cow” some anticipated.
“I am somewhat disappointed that our sales tax collections were not significantly higher than last year,” Torrington City Clerk-Treasurer Lynette Strecker said. “In (Fiscal Year 2017) we collected $81,011 in sales tax for this period, and in (Fiscal Year 2018) – with the great eclipse receipts – we received $83,862. This is an increase of $2,851, which is about a 3.5 percent increase.”
Lingle saw less of a financial boost, per Town Clerk-Treasurer Michele Sussex.
“Very much like Torrington, our sales tax numbers didn’t show much of an increase at all,” she said. “In FY17 we collected $5,600.16 in sales tax for this period, and in FY18 we received $5,658.88, an increase of $58.72, or 1.048 percent increase.”
Fort Laramie Clerk-Treasurer Kim Craft reported a sales tax boost of $87.41, or 1.509 percent higher than the previous fiscal year.
Kim E. Lovett, administrator of the Excise Tax Division for the Wyoming Department of Revenue, said an August 2016 vs. August 2017 sales tax comparison would be “rather impossible” due to tax deadlines.
“The August eclipse vendors didn’t have to report until the end of September, which fell on a weekend, (so) some may have waited until October (to report),” she explained, adding October is typically a slower month revenue-wise. This means eclipse-generated sales tax is potentially spread across multiple months, which may cause reports to reflect less revenue than was actually received for August 2017.

Regarding statewide numbers, the Wyoming Office of Tourism announced more than a quarter of a million people viewed the eclipse in Wyoming, and 75 percent were from out-of-state.
Quick facts from the eclipse economic impact study:
• A total of 261,100 people traveled in Wyoming for the solar eclipse.
• A total of $63.5 million in travel expenditures – including travel, lodging, meals and shopping – was spent in Wyoming during a five-day period due to the 2017 solar eclipse.
• Local tax revenues garnered from eclipse-related spending resulted in $2.3 million for Wyoming’s state government and $1.4 million for local governments.
• Media coverage of the eclipse in Wyoming provided an estimated editorial value of $6.77 million.
• Nearly 44 percent of (surveyed) respondents indicated they would come back to Wyoming in the next two years.
• An estimated 29,000 international travelers came to Wyoming to view the eclipse.
Goshen County Economic Development Corporation (GCEDC) CEO Ashley Harpstreith said while she expected – and hoped – the area would see a large amount of visitors who stayed in Goshen County for longer than a day, “the public relations were huge, and how can you put a value on that?”
Harpstreith said GCEDC’s tourism website (gogoshen.net) was viewed more than 40,000 times during the month of August, and the county’s TravelStorys app (which offers an interactive and educational tour of points of interest in the area) received approximately 39,000 downloads.
“Any time we have a chance to showcase our community is a huge win for all of us,” Harpstreith said, mentioning the presence of television companies NBC, CBS, BBC, PBS, radio stations Wyoming and National Public Radio, and federal agency NASA during the event.
Despite the apparent lack of a large revenue bump locally, Harpstreith said she believed the event was a resounding success.
“Our goal was to have a safe and pleasant experience with everybody and hopefully tempt them to come back,” she said. “We felt we were winners – how could we not feel like we were winners?”
The next anticipated big tourism draw in Goshen County is the 150th anniversary commemoration of the signing of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, scheduled for Saturday, April 28, 2018 at Fort Laramie National Historic Site. GCEDC expects thousands of visitors for
the celebration.
To view the tourism study in full, visit www.travelwyoming.com/research/eclipse.