What will spring break mean for Fort Myers Beach?

Writer: Elyssa Morataya
Published: Updated:
spring break fort Myers beach

Spring breakers are back flooding Florida beaches.

In a recent video released by the City of Miami Beach, Miami is officially breaking up with spring break.

According to the one-minute video, The Miami Beach government called spring break a dreaded yearly event that taxes law enforcement, sours locals, and damages businesses and property.

While spring breakers may be looking towards the West Coast to vacation, the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce says not so fast.

Fort Myers Beach is unprepared for an extra spring break crowd this year.

“Two of our other hotels are still closed. We have just over 1000 hotel rooms, just about 1100 hotel rooms open, and 400 to 500 Vacation Rentals,” said Jacki Lisak, president and CEO of FMB Chamber of Commerce. “We’re only at about 40 to 42% right now of availability accommodation-wise. So it really cuts down on the number of people who can actually stay on the island.”

Many resorts on the island, like Diamondhead, are already 90% capacity for the next month since spring break is known to be a busy season for Fort Myers Beach.

“Since the last couple of weeks of February, the season already started, and the tourism begins to rise from March 15 onwards. It’s crazy,” said Alexis, a worker at Hershey’s Icecream. “There are a lot of people. It’s like a weekend every day. It doesn’t reach the level of Miami Beach, but it does get pretty crowded.”

The crowds are already drawing in visitors familiar with the area.

“We’ve been coming here for like ever. We came as like little kids, and then we just kept coming in,” said one spring breaker.

The Fort Myers Beach Chamber of hopes that the barriers don’t keep away summer crowds.

“Please come down and enjoy responsibly and make some memories. Then tell your friends and your family that Fort Myers Beach is open,” said Lisak. “We are here. We need our guests and our visitors to come back and support us.”

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