Spring break begins for Central Coast university
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) Spring has sprung, and that means college students around the country are preparing for spring break.
The state of California issued a notice asking not to travel more than 120 miles away. Communications Director Christina Glynn of Visit Santa Cruz County said that most of the visitors she expects to see on our shoreline are within those 120 miles of each other.
“So interstate travel is going to be very popular this year,” said Glynn. “The trend is that people are not going to be traveling very far from home for their vacations.”
Visit Santa Cruz County will continue to promote their safety campaign introduced last July. The campaign safety campaign is a reminder to practice safety protocols like maintaining social distance, wearing a mask, and washing hands. Staff visited hotels and vacation rental homes last week to distribute safety pledge materials, flyers and masks.
"It was just a reminder to our lodging partners, that spring break is just around the corner,” said Glynn. “We must stay safe, we must encourage visitors to stay safe so we can keep COVID numbers low, protect our hotel industry, our community, ourselves, and our visitors. "
Santa Cruz typically sees about a 65% hotel occupancy but pandemic restrictions have changed that percentage in recent years. The hotel occupancy for Monterey County in March and April has hovered between 70-75%. However, Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau said they don’t expect the numbers to be as high this year. But they do anticipate seeing an increase in visitation with spring break. In a statement sent to KION, they wrote in part,
“Our organization continues to promote responsible travel and communicate to potential visitors that they must wear masks with fines in place, continue to practice social distancing, follow the CDC guidelines, and leave no trace behind.”
Schools across the country and the Central Coast are starting their spring break this week. At UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis, the break began this past weekend and is expected to last until this Sunday, March 28th. Spring break for CSU Monterey Bay students will begin this Friday, March 26th.
Read the full statement below from the Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau below:
Monterey County CVB anticipates to see an increase in visitation with spring break as the destination has moved forward in California's Recovery Plan to the Red Tier, COVID-19 case numbers continue to decline and more people are being vaccinated. Our organization continues to promote responsible travel and communicate to potential visitors that they must wear masks with fines in place, continue to practice social distancing, follow the CDC guidelines, and leave no trace behind. This messaging can be seen on signage throughout the destination, prominently on SeeMonterey.com, and in all Monterey County CVB's communications. Businesses have gone above and beyond in adding additional health and safety protocols to ensure that the community, employees, and visitors are safe.
In past years, hotel occupancy in March and April has hovered between 70-75% with both group and leisure visitors. We don't expect numbers to be as high this year given the lack of group business due to continued restrictions.
