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The San Antonio International Airport said on Monday that, based on ticket sales, some San Antonians are headed to beaches, mountains, and deserts for spring break.
"We have found that a lot of those tickets are being sold to Florida, Colorado, Utah, Mexico, and Arizona," said Tonya Hope, an airport spokesperson.
New routes that were not available before the COVID-19 pandemic include JetBlue to Boston or New York-JFK, Frontier to Atlanta, Spirit to Orlando or Las Vegas, VivaAerobus to Monterrey or Mexico City or Leon/Guanajuato, and Southwest to Oklahoma City.
Hope advised travelers to arrive at least two hours before their boarding times. More than 130,000 people were expected to fly out from San Antonio during spring break, an increase of 10,000 people from last year, she added.
Brett Stawar, the president and CEO of the Port Aransas chamber of commerce, said bookings for spring break rental properties are on the way up.
"We're at about 60% occupancy right now," he explained. "We look for that to go up, once the weather forecast is pretty solid, another 10 or 20%."
Port A's spring breakers tend to be mostly families, he said. Beaches close at 6 p.m., and a local ordinance bans alcoholic beverages on beaches after 6 p.m.
Stawar added that local rental properties require renters to be 25 and older.
Port A’s beach hours and rental requirements tend to keep college students moving south to party for spring break.
Many college students head to South Padre Island, where Mauricio Cervantes works for the visitor's bureau in marketing.
"Last year we saw a total of 2.12 million visitors," he said. "We are expecting a higher increase this time around."
Cervantes added that there is a lot of security in place to keep beachgoers safe.
Those who decide to stay home this year may take comfort in the fact that San Antonio will be warmer than South Padre Island.
The National Weather Service reported that highs this week on the island will be in the 70s. The weather will alternate between mostly sunny and mostly cloudy days.
San Antonio's highs will be in the 80s with a chance for rain on Thursday night and Friday as a cold front pushes through.
