Spring Break
SPRING BREAK: Spring break' (also known as March break, spring vacation, Mid-Term Break, study week, reading week, reading period, or Easter holidays in the United States and some parts of Canada) is a recess in early spring at universities and schools in various countries in the northern hemisphere. Every year millions of young travelers take advantage of the holiday period to visit beach resorts and party destinations such as Cancun, Miami, Panama City Beach, Punta Cana and Cabo San Lucas. Travel industry estimates suggest that roughly 1.5 million American college students travel during Spring Break each year.
Contents
History and timing
Canada
Canada gives a week-long break to its elementary school and secondary school students in the month of March, with the time varying from province to province; New Brunswick and Quebec, for example, place their March breaks during the first week of March; Ontario, Nova Scotia and British Columbia schedule theirs during the second or third week; and the break in Alberta and Manitoba usually occurs in the last week of March.
In a 1995 study of Canadian students who had traveled to Florida for spring break, researchers found the key elements of a spring break vacation to include a group holiday with friends traveling and rooming together, a perpetual party atmosphere, high alcohol consumption, sexually suggestive contests and displays, and the perception that casual sex is common. Overall, there was a perception that sexual norms are far more permissive on spring break vacation than at home, providing an atmosphere of greater sexual freedom and the opportunity for engaging in new sexual experiences. Of the 681 students who completed a questionnaire after the break, 15% of males and 13% of females had engaged in casual sex during the break.
More recent research and surveys of college travel behavior continue to show similar patterns, with studies suggesting that between roughly 15% and 30% of spring break travelers report sexual activity with someone they met during the trip. Researchers studying student travel behavior also note that condom use is inconsistent among a portion of participants, which has led to ongoing public health discussions about risks of STD transmission during large party tourism events.
United States
In the United States, Spring Break at the college and university level can occur from March to April, depending on term dates and holidays such as Holy Week. Many K–12 institutions in the United States schedule a two-week long break known as "Easter Break" or "Easter Holidays", as they take place in the weeks before and after Easter.
In many regions, the break fulfills the function of making up for snow days in January and February. Because instructors are paid during spring break anyway, school districts do not incur expenses by adding extra days to the school calendar at the end-of-term.
Other countries
In Guatemala, it takes place during Easter; schools give students a whole week to rest while the workforce rests approximately three days.
In Japan, the spring break starts with the end of the academic year in March and ends on April 1 with the beginning of a new academic year.
In Mexico, spring break takes place during the Holy Week and the one after it.
Popular spring break destinations
United States
- Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
- Galveston, Texas
- Miami, Florida – One of the most famous spring break party destinations in the United States, especially around South Beach.
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
Arizona: Lake Havasu City
Lake Havasu City, Arizona has been a popular spring break destination for the last two decades. Growing in popularity, Lake Havasu City is the only major spring break location in the United States that is not located on the Gulf Coast. Approximately 150,000 college students travel to the city every year during spring break.
Florida: Fort Lauderdale
From the end of World War II until the mid-1980s, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was a notorious spring break destination in the United States for college students. Fort Lauderdale's reputation as a spring break destination for college students started when the Colgate University men's swim team arrived to practice there over Christmas break in 1934.
Attracting approximately 20,000 college students in the 1950s, Spring Break was still known as "spring vacation" and was a relatively low key affair. This began to change when Glendon Swarthout’s novel Where the Boys Are was published in 1958, effectively ushering in modern Spring Break.
Swarthout’s 1958 novel was quickly made into a movie of the same title in 1960 Where the Boys Are, in which college girls met boys while on spring break there. The number of visiting college students immediately jumped to over 50,000. By the early 1980s, Ft. Lauderdale was attracting between 250,000 and 350,000 college students per year during spring break. Residents of the Fort Lauderdale area became so upset at the damage done by college students that the local government passed laws restricting parties in 1985. At the same time, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act was enacted in the United States, requiring that Florida raise the minimum drinking age to 21 and inspiring many college vacationers to travel to other locations in the United States for spring break.
Florida: Panama City Beach
Panama City Beach, Florida became the spring break mecca in the early 1990s after Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach enacted restrictive measures in order to discourage college students from visiting during spring break. The city remains one of the best known spring break destinations in the country due to its proximity to many Southern colleges and the large number of beachfront resorts catering to student travel. In peak years the area has welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors during the March–April spring break season.
Texas: South Padre Island
South Padre Island, Texas is also a popular Spring Break destination among students from colleges in the south-central and mid-western parts of the country. In the early 1980s, South Padre Island became the first location outside of Florida to draw a large number of college students for spring break.
Overseas
Popular destinations outside the United States include beach resorts in the Caribbean (for example Barbados, The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos Islands) as well as major resort cities in Mexico such as Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. European nightlife destinations such as Ibiza, Ayia Napa, Chania and Amsterdam also attract international party tourism during the same spring period.
Cancun in particular has become one of the most recognized international spring break destinations. The resort city regularly welcomes tens of thousands of American students during the March–April travel period. The combination of beach parties, nightclub events and resort tourism has made the area one of the most discussed spring break locations on travel forums and nightlife guides.
Large tourism events also attract opportunistic crime, and travelers are frequently advised to be cautious of common nightlife scams and Escort and Sex Scams that sometimes appear in major party destinations during peak tourism seasons.
In recent years the geography of spring break tourism has broadened. While traditional American locations such as Panama City Beach and South Padre Island remain well known, increasing numbers of students now travel to international resort destinations in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. These destinations combine beach tourism, nightclub events and resort parties marketed toward college-age travelers and are often featured in lists such as Top 10 Easiest Countries to Get Laid.
Spring break nightlife and party culture
Many spring break destinations are famous for their intense beach parties, nightlife scenes and large resort events organized specifically for visiting college students. Popular locations such as Miami, Cabo San Lucas, Cancun, Punta Cana and Montego Bay attract thousands of young travelers each year who come for beach festivals, resort parties and bars. Travel forums and nightlife guides often discuss these party towns as some of the most active party tourism locations in the world.
The combination of huge crowds, alcohol and unfamiliar nightlife environments has also led to increased discussion of health risks such as STD transmission as well as common nightlife problems such as Escort and Sex Scams that occasionally target foreign tourists in major resort cities.
Corporate marketing
It is common for major brands that cater to the youth market (for example Coca-Cola, Gillette, MTV and branches of the United States armed forces) to market at spring break destinations.
Alternatives
Some colleges offer "alternative spring breaks", in which students volunteer community service and charity work during spring break.
See also
- Spring Break Sex Guide
- United States of America, Panama City Beach, Galveston, Miami, Las Vegas, Key West, New York City, New Orleans, Daytona Beach, Virginia Beach
- Mexico, Cancun, Acapulco, Cabo San Lucas
- Dominican Republic, Punta Cana
- Jamaica, Montego Bay
- The Bahamas, Nassau
- Brothel, Escort agency, Call girl, Erotic massage
- Prostitution, Street prostitution, Sex worker
- Red-light district, List of red-light districts all over the world
- Sex industry, Sex tourism
- Sex vocabulary, Dictionary of Obscure Sexual Terms
- Gay and lesbian travel, Shemale
- Age of consent
