It seems logical that tourism numbers would dip in Corpus Christi in between Spring Break and the height of Summer vacationers coming to town. If you ask the leaders of one of the city’s attractions, for a variety of reasons, don’t expect that lull.
“One [reason] is Easter and Semana Santa,” Texas State Aquarium President and CEO Tom Schmid said. “We see a lot of visitors from the Rio Grande Valley and Mexico, so I think that’s a real strong market for us, and we’ll have a great April because of that.”
Schmid expects high aquarium attendance in both April and May because of dozens of school groups making the trip to see the fish and other animals.
“School kids from all over the State of Texas will visit the aquarium over the next two months,” he said. “In fact, we see around 60,000 to 80,000 students every year, and probably 75% come in those two months.”
This momentum comes after two very successful weeks at the aquarium.
“Our Spring Breaks have consistently been very strong, but this one will likely be our best or second best ever,” Schmid said.
The same can’t be said citywide. Wet, rainy weather put a damper on the end of the Spring Break season. Thankfully for downtown businesses, sales rallied on the final day.
“Because St. Patrick’s Day was on a Sunday and the weather was great, we actually saw an uptick in business on Sunday,” Downtown Management District Communication and Events Manager Jordan Michael said.
Like the aquarium, Michael believes the uptick will continue for Downtown. She credits several conventions and their large crowds filling up hotels for that. There are also several events in the pipeline that will likely draw thousands of people to the area.
“We have some festivals coming up, like Buc Days which is always at the end of April/beginning of May, that help bring more visitors down here,” she said. “And also Fiesta de la Flor is coming up, and that’s going to be huge for the entire city. We’re really excited about that.”
And while people are in town for those events, maybe they’ll check out the aquarium.
“We’re real pleased with the way the year has started out,” Schmid said. “We’re actually a little ahead of the game right now and looking forward to a great summer.”
