Spring break is a ritualistic event in the United States. Anyone you choose off the street could list any number of places to go for the best and biggest parties across the nation during March and April. Not one of them, however, would mention Utah.
Utah is missing out without any destinations in the area for spring break festivities. While ski resorts do as much as they can to advocate for the state, students ages 18-24, who comprise 4 million of our country’s skiing, cross country and snowboarding participants, according to snowsports.org, have their eyes focused elsewhere during spring break season.
Businesses in Panama City Beach, Fla., one of the well-known spring break destinations, are reported by the Wall Street Journal to make about $101 million in March. Although Utah lacks the tropical ocean setting many party-inciting cities boast, we still have a lot to offer. Anyone who thinks a desert is no place for a festival has never heard of Burning Man in Black Rock City, Nev.
Utah could thrive as a spring break site, since most travelers aren’t looking for seven days of non-stop partying. Skiing, hiking and climbing offer unique alternative activities that few other destinations can compare. Those who would consider spending a portion of their spring break in the mountains might be swayed to come if the activities in the state were a little more well-rounded and better promoted.
It’s imaginable there are many residents who would discourage promoting what might often might be a rowdy form of tourism. As represented by the strict liquor and gambling laws in the state, Utah is no stranger to putting perceived morals above economic advancement.
However, with 2012 being the warmest year on record and the Olympic bid only coming every 24 years, “the Greatest Snow on Earth” might soon need help from other avenues to draw attention to our state.
Local festivities will also help inspire youth to remain nearby this time of the year, rather than travelling across the country with a group of friends, hoping to get the most they can out of an expensive investment. Notoriously destitute college students probably won’t disagree with spending a few spring breaks at home either, and it would give our friends at BYU, who don’t even have a spring break, the opportunity to be included in such a hyped-up part of college life.
Utah has much room to grow. Our local geography offers a lot, but if the state wants to become a travel hot spot, it needs a little more diversity in the tourists it attracts and the tourism events it promotes.
Acknowledging the jubilance of the spring break season will hardly turn Utah into America’s Amsterdam, but it would offer opportunities for college students, and even local families, to celebrate the return of warm temperatures while promoting economic growth.
Hopefully something will develop that U students will find worthy of sticking around for, but for now, while students are gearing up for their holiday travels, nothing screams “Visit our state!” like searching “spring break Utah” on the web and getting back nothing but academic calendars.