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GUIDE TO SOUTH PADRE ISLAND
South Padre parties slow to get started this season By BILL HANNA Star-Telegram Staff Writer At South Padre Island, the annual spring keg party has run out of steam. Blame high gas prices, border concerns or students heading to more exotic locales like Mexico or Costa Rica, but South Padre Island isn't seeing its annual horde of college students for spring break. "I've never seen anything like this," said Rick Wells, a former mayor pro tem for the town of South Padre Island. "This is my 29th spring break in the area. By far, this is the worst, far worse than last year." Wells, who owns a real estate company and a Radio Shack store on the island, said business at both has slowed to a trickle during March, which is normally a busy time. Wells said the island has 5,000 to 10,000 visitors, compared with 30,000 to 40,000 before. "Normally the first weekend of Texas week, we would have people two to three deep in our store. Last weekend, we didn't have anybody." Nightspots 'thin' Louie's Backyard, a huge nightspot where college students have partied for roughly three decades, has also seen a downturn. "It's starting off soft," said Joe Ricco, the general manager, who added that nightspots are now looking forward to the Easter break next week, when Mexican nationals will arrive on the island. "It's been thin, but we're counting on Holy Week and the backside of Texas week to pick things up," Ricco said. Rather than blaming violence across the border in Mexico or $3 gas, local businesses blame poor marketing and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission's crackdown on alcohol consumption. "They want to blame it on the [drug] cartels, but that's just ridiculous; it's all about the TABC harassing the college students and the way the convention and visitors bureau markets it," said Debra Fassold, whose family owns Original Tours, a company that takes tourists to Matamoros, Mexico. Original Tours used to take busloads of college students across the border. This March, there have been no takers. Instead, this week's daily van shuttle to the border has carried winter Texans, retirees who spend their winters in South Texas. Melissa Zamora, a spokeswoman for the South Padre Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, said officials are still expecting 80,000 to 85,000 visitors during March, about the same as last year. But she concedes that is far less than the 100,000 or so a decade ago. "We have seen a significant decline from the peak," Zamora said. "But our ad agency worked on a major campaign this year, and we're hoping to see a slight increase from last year." Zamora said that advertising has targeted colleges, travel shows and Internet sites but that the bureau won't know until the end of the March how well the ads worked. Other destinations Nationally, college students continue to head for popular beach destinations such as Cancun, Acapulco and Jamaica, said Amanda Webb, with Lewisville-based STA Travel, which has branches at 65 colleges nationwide. "We've seen an uptick in alternative travel," Webb said. "There's been a 21 percent increase in travel to Costa Rica over last year. There's a big volunteer aspect, where students can go work at a program for endangered sea turtles, then go on a zip line tour, surfing or snorkeling. It does have that party side but definitely not as crazy as Cancun." Webb said U.S. destinations such as Miami's South Beach, Panama City, Fla., and South Padre Island remain popular with students but that STA won't be able to gauge numbers until the end of spring break season. |
 
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