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Spring break marks beginning of San Antonio's biggest tourism season

By Brian Kirkpatrick

March 13, 2026 at 6:51 PM CDT

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San Antonio's $21billion annual tourism industry really begins at spring break, according to Visit San Antonio, the city's official tourism arm.

While a lot of students saw their spring break begin after their release from classes on Friday, March 7, more are coming to the Alamo City through at least March 22, according to Visit San Antonio.

And many will be coming with families to check out the Alamo, the River Walk, Market Square, Six Flags-Fiesta Texas, SeaWorld, and the city's museums, shopping, and culinary delights.

Andres Munoz, the chief marketing officer for Visit San Antonio, said residents of other big Texas cities and in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana are seeing a lot of San Antonio's fun side in a television ad campaign.

He said the spots also air in major U.S. cities with good flight connections to San Antonio.

"Last November, we actually launched a new campaign talking about how cool and vibrant our city is." he said. "And it talks about how we have our own personality. Basically, the campaign talks of 'Unmistakably San Antonio.'"

The ad campaign shows how there is something for everyone in the Alamo City with warm and colorful spots as backdrops. And an announcer with a booming voice says in part "[H]ere's the thing about San Antonio. We don't just show you a good time, we change you."

The television ad campaign airs a lot in the four weeks leading up to spring break.

See the ad here: AUTHENTIC. ALIVE. UNMISTAKABLY SAN ANTONIO.

Munoz said spring break, April's Fiesta, Easter week and then the summer months, make up the biggest combined tourism period for the city. He said the Christmas season has been a growing visitation period for the city, but remains a distant second, accounting for around one-out-of-four visitors to San Antonio during the year.

A Trinity University study in 2023 found the city attracted nearly 36 million domestic visitors and more than 2 million international visitors that year. It also found the tourism industry that year pumped $21 billion into the local economy.