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This year, spring break travelers from the United States are all about the sun, sand, and surf, and Cancun, the Mexican Caribbean hotspot, is topping their list.
That’s according to a recent Allianz Partners survey of more than 3.4 million spring break travelers planning a five to eight-day vacation getaway.
About a quarter of all of the trips analyzed were to an international destination this year.
Spring Beach Bound
According to the survey, most spring break travelers were looking to escape to warmer weather destinations.
Nearly all of the desired destinations for spring vacation travelers were tropical beach locations with Cancun taking the top spot this year.
“Americans are not only headed for warm-weather destinations, but are warming up their wallets in pursuit of unforgettable Spring Break experiences,” says Daniel Durazo, director of external communications at Allianz Partners USA in a company news release.
In fact, travelers were expecting to pay more than $4,600 for their spring break travel this year, representing a solid 7.9 percent over the expected budget for travel in the same period last year.
Higher Room Rates
The higher travel budget would not come as a surprise to those who have visited Cancun recently.
Room rates across the Mexican Caribbean have been climbing lately as the tourist hotspot becomes even more popular this year.
Recently, hotel nights at some of the top resorts in Cancun have been well over $500 per night during the last peak travel period.
That would put the room costs at some of the top Cancun resorts between $2,500 and $4,000 for a five—to eight-day vacation getaway.
That’s just for the room rate and not even factoring in the flights, food, and beverages.
That would place Cancun in one of the higher-than-average budget categories for a beach resort spring break location, according to the Allianz Partners survey.
Mexican Caribbean Soars in Popularity
Cancun and the Mexican Caribbean are soaring in popularity this year due to recent infrastructure upgrades, which have been causing a buzz among international travelers.
The first big upgrade that has really caught the eye of vacation travelers in the Mexican Caribbean is the popular Maya Train system.
Even despite the fact that much of the train network is not working in the core tourist zones of Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum, it still has created quite a bit of excitement among travelers.
Visitors have been very pleased with the ability to easily travel to other parts of the region, including some of the popular rural Maya archaeological sites such as Chichen Itza.
The other popular infrastructure addition that has been getting travelers excited about visiting the Cancun area is the opening of the new Tulum International Airport.
While the airport has been open for domestic airline passengers since December, the first nonstop international flights from the United States will finally start later this month.
What Visitors Need to Know
Tourists planning to head to Cancun for the spring break holiday season should plan ahead for full airplanes, large crowds, and busier-than-usual restaurants, nightclubs, and bars.
Travelers who have yet to book their last minute travel for the popular spring break travel season should be prepared for more expensive hotel rates and flights with limited availability of each.
Visitors looking to book popular tours and excursions should make reservations now to avoid the possibility of sold-out conditions as the peak of the spring break travel season nears. This year, the Easter holiday falls on March 31.
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