While the college revelers head to Daytona or Lake Havasu for Spring Break bikini contests, families seeking winter sports are more apt to visit Northern Arizona for March vacations. According to insiders, Northern Arizona sees a bump in business from family vacationers during spring break.
“Over the years, we’ve seen our occupancy rates climb in March. In March, visitors come for spring break, which is the start of the tourist influx for the year,” said Robin Prema of Prema Group of Companies, which owns retail centers, hotels and the newly remodeled Speedy Car Wash on Milton Road. Prema, who sits on the W. A. Franke College of Business Advisory Board at Northern Arizona University, owns the Super 8 hotel on west Route 66. His wife, Pragna Prema, agreed, “March is a time when we see people coming in because of spring break. If it snows a lot during spring break, occupancy increases.”
Little America Hotel General Manager Fred Reese said, “We’re on pace with last year for spring break. We get families, as our property is family-oriented. If we get snow, it will help families come up to enjoy the winter sports that we have here in the North Country. We are already seeing a trend with winter this year with Snowbowl’s good base.”
To attract families to Northern Arizona for spring break, the Flagstaff Convention and Visitor Bureau (CVB) markets to three major metro areas where spring break times are staggered. In Phoenix, spring break runs from early March through mid-March, while California’s spring breaks go from mid-March through mid-April. In addition, according to Flagstaff CVB Public Relations Manager Heather Ainardi, Mexico has a longer spring break that extends through Easter.
Marketing was pinpointed into Hermosillo, Mexico’s 16th largest city, Los Angeles, the U.S.’s second largest city, and the Valley of the Sun. “Hermosillo is home to affluent travelers who travel to Tucson and Phoenix. It’s not that difficult to get them to come a little further north for snow play and other family activities,” Ainardi said.
“When the economy took a downturn, families were taking more car vacations. One of the reasons that we started marketing into L.A. was to capture that market. Families wanted a getaway that would not break the bank; Flagstaff is great for that. We have family-friendly hotels and activities,” she explained. The Flagstaff CVB tracks where visitors are coming from by the click-throughs onto the banner ad on their website www.flagstaffarizona.org. “Our click-throughs in the Valley are higher than industry standards, while our L.A. click-throughs meet the industry standard,” said the marketing manager.
“Residents here are good at promoting Flagstaff. Friends and family are a great way to promote a destination,” added Ainardi.
Online, Travelocity is promoting Spring Break deals to the traditional Florida beaches by offering free concierge service. TripAdvisor offers rankings of Cancun Spring Break resorts. Orbitz suggests Florida and Arizona for Spring Break, citing major league baseball training games as a big draw. “We see vacationers spending one day of their baseball spring training vacations to come up and ski Arizona Snowbowl,” said Dave Smith, director of sales and marketing at Snowbowl. “Snowmaking has allowed us to build the best terrain park that we have ever had. The kids come up [from the Valley] for that.”
As for outbound spring break vacationers, Flagstaff families are headed to the beach or ski slope. “Most families are going to warm destinations. The Caribbean is perfect that time of year,” said Monika Leuenberger, president of Avenues of the World Travel. One growing trend that she sees in Northern Arizona is requests for active vacations. “People don’t want to lay out at the beach anymore. When they go to the beach, they also want to play tennis, kayak, hike and snorkel. They like the variety.”
For those requirements, Leuenberger recommends all-inclusive vacations like Beaches Resorts that offer the best value and extensive kids’ programs. “The kids are having a blast and the parents can do a lot of relaxing,” said the travel expert. “The beaches fill up so fast that we have to book them almost a year in advance.”
But local Northern Arizonans who have not yet made spring break travel plans may just want to stay home and enjoy vacation time in this world-class travel destination. FBN
Avenues of the World Travel: 2915 North 4th Street, Flagstaff, 928-556-0853
Little America: 2515 East Butler Avenue, Flagstaff, 800-352-4386
http://flagstaff.littleamerica.com
Super 8 Motel: 602 West Route 66, Flagstaff, 928-774-4581