Spring Breakers Are Back in Cancun

A wave of so-called spring breakers washed to the shores of Cancun this week, with 12,000 of these American students arriving Sunday 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 are 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.