TAMPA, Fla. — Spring break season officially arrives for Hillsborough County students when the school day ends Friday, and a large percentage of those students may be heading on vacation this year.
According to AAA, 40% of Floridians are planning a spring break vacation this year, which is up from 26% last year. And those travelers, either into or out of Florida, will be hitting the road in some travel-friendly conditions.
“Previous spring travel seasons were affected by COVID-19," Debbie Haas, Vice President of Travel for AAA, said. "However, Americans are largely more confident about traveling again, and AAA has seen very strong bookings for beach destinations, cruises, and attractions.”
For vacationers hitting the road, gas prices in Florida have declined 12 cents in the past ten days and are 36 cents lower than the highest price of 2023. The gas price fall hit just at the right time, as AAA said gas prices will likely be on the rise again.
"The recent dip was driven by falling oil prices," said AAA Public Relations Manager Mark Jenkins. "Unfortunately, that downward trend ended last week, and oil prices are back up, which means gas prices are likely to get more expensive soon."
Nationally, gas prices settled at $3.40 on Sunday, up about 4 cents from the previous week but more than 50 cents cheaper than last year.
Erin and Cassady Callahan flew in for a mother-daughter trip from Minneapolis to the Tampa Bay Area this week. They rented a car and have hit some traffic during their stay.
"We are visiting a friend that's in kind of the downtown Tampa area, and driving her back from Sand Key beach to her school took an hour and a half I think one day," said Erin Callahan.
To save on gas, AAA suggests paying with cash and driving conservatively, explaining that aggressively accelerating and speeding reduces fuel economy.
As gas prices drop, the roads will likely be packed throughout Florida over the next few weeks. Travelers hoping to avoid that gridlock who take to the sky had better be ready for wall-to-wall passengers in airports.
Tampa International Airport said March 7 through April 10 is its official spring break season and will be the airport's busiest time of the year. Travel is already in full swing as on February 26, TPA saw 84,000 passengers come through the airport, making it the third busiest day in the last three years.
During the 2023 spring break season, TPA said they expect an average of roughly 76,000 passengers per day.
The Melton family planned for about a year for their trip to Costa Rica and explained the slowdowns they'd already run into.
“Just coming up from Bradenton it was just crazy, stop and go all the way," said Mark Melton.
“Come early. Check in early," said Tamara Melton. "We came three hours ahead, and I’m so glad we did because we were just going to do two, but traffic was terrible and the lines were long.”
So how can you plan ahead for a packed airport? TPA said to arrive early (2 hours for domestic travel, 3 hours for international travel), book parking in advance, use blue express curbs if you have no checked luggage, and even order your food ahead of time through TPAtoGo.com.
And if TPA is too far away, St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport might be a better fit and save you some money. The airport recently said it earned the top spot for lowest average domestic airfare out of the top 100 busiest U.S. airports.
Regardless of how you're traveling, the main thing to remember is to have plenty of patience on the road and in the airport to make sure everyone has a great time on their vacation.
