CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
And no, it’s not Christmas. We’re talking about Spring Break on the Island.
Spring Break can bring a lot of out of town visitors who go to local businesses and boost their sales.
Third Coast Surf Company Manager Kaitlynn Suarez said the busiest days of the week are the weekends because people are just arriving and need beach gear, or are leaving and need some souvenirs.
“This beach has been popping up on like, 'Greatest Beaches' and stuff like that, so a lot more people have been coming down; especially from all over,” Suarez said.
She said people come from all over the state, country, and even other countries to enjoy themselves out on the Island.
The Buntello family was in town from San Antonio for a basketball tournament during Spring Break, and said they’re doing activities like an escape room and axe throwing.
“We just wanted to come to the beach (…) get a little time off (…) get away from San Antonio for a couple of days,” they said.
Visit Corpus Christi president and CEO Brett Oetting said visitors coming to Corpus Christi have tripled over the past 20 years.
“Visitation and overnight stays and visitor spending continues to exponentially grow in Corpus Christi as the years go on,” Oetting said.
He said Corpus Christi sees the busiest weekends in overnight stays during the Summer, but Spring Break is the busiest week.
Oetting added visitors spend around $100 million dollars during the month of March.
Island Joe’s Coffee and Gallery’s owner Bryan Tumlinson said they also benefit from the mass amount of visitors coming to the Island for Spring Break.
“Our season is spring, summer, and that’s our main season for sales. And so, versus other places, it’s mostly the winter time for coffee sales,” Tumlinson said.
He said with each year, there are more Spring Breakers, coming as far as Michigan and Minnesota.
“We’re not just in the coffee business, we’re in the people business,” he said.
