Acapulco Beats Cancun as Destination of Choice for Notorious Spring Breakers

Acapulco, Mexico´s world-class travel destination in the Pacific coast, has become the new attraction for U.S. students who flee snowed-under campuses and look for the sweltering sun of the Aztec nation.

Interest in Acapulco has emerged as Cancun, one of the spring breakers´ favorite spots, is taking actions to restrain their ruckus behavior of these college students and to try to put the city´s bash-rocking image behind.

A courtesy pact signed by several travel agents in Cancun, as well as hoteliers and bar owners back in 2002, bars drunken patrons from entering restaurants and clubs. At the same time, the accord regulates the promotion of alcoholic beverages in the destination.

A wave of so-called spring breakers washed to the shores of Cancun last month, with 12,000 of these American students arriving on jam-packed commercial flights. Officials of the Mexican Association of Travel Agencies (AMAV is the Spanish acronym) rebuffed rumors that street vendors at the beach were hawking drugs among these youngsters.

These U.S. college students are flocking down to Cancun at a time when hotel occupancy is around 87 percent, slightly below the 91.3 percent ratio posted last year. Spring breakers are expected to fork over some $64 million in establishments scattered across the state of Quintana Roo.

AMAV Chairman Eduardo Paniagua Morales said as many as 15,000 American students are staying in Cancun right now. And their longstanding record of misdemeanors and petty crimes seems to be all gone. This time around, seemingly deep-pocketed spring breakers are behaving themselves and finding better ways to spend their time away.