It’s not just kids who enjoy the break

Families, tourists fill the streets, visiting city’s popular venues

Young Terri Gurllory sat bundled up under two blankets in a cart while her family purchased tickets for the San Antonio Zoo early Friday morning.

Marian Gurllory, 7-year-old Terri’s older sister, said the family wanted to brave the mid-50-degrees weather to get ahead of Spring Break crowds that have been filling the park all week.

A day earlier, when the sun was giving warmth on a clear day, the family would likely have been in a line weaving many yards back.

The zoo is a popular destination for visitors and locals who make a staycation out of Spring Break.

Gurllory’s family is a blend of both. Her aunt visited from Houston and they decided the zoo would be a great place to take a group of kids.

“Even in the cold,” she said. Across the city, tourist attractions saw a bump in traffic throughout the week as most schools let out for Spring Break. Past hotel occupancy rates compiled by Visit San Antonio show the city gets plenty of out-of-town visitors and places such as the zoo and museum add extra activities in anticipation of more visitors.

“We look for this week or two as a targeted week that’ll be pretty solid,” Visit San Antonio spokesman Richard Oliver said. “We know that we’re a fine Spring Break destination.”

While most businesses won’t know the total economic impact of this Spring Break, tourism and hospitality is a $15.2 billion industry in San Antonio annually, and a good chunk of that comes during this time of year.

San Antonio’s strength, Oliver said, is that the city offers a wide array of indoor and outdoor activities. When the weather is wet or cold, there are plenty of different

types of museums and other attractions. On a beautiful day, visitors go to the amusement parks, the Alamo, the River Walk and the zoo. This week was particularly mercurial with cloudy days early in the week, the sun coming out midweek and then a noticeable drop in temperatures Friday.

The Witte Museum was bustling Friday morning. Spring Break is consistently the nature and science museum’s busiest time of year, said Katye Brought, director of communications and marketing.

On Tuesday, when cost of admission is suspended between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., the museum saw close to 7,000 visitors. Attendance fluctuates depending on the time of year and what special exhibits are being featured, but the Tuesday

number is “definitely a couple of thousand” more than the museum typically experiences, Brought said.

“What is so great about the Witte is how large the campus is,” Brought said, so even with the crowds it doesn’t feel congested.

Many of the attractions such as the Witte and the zoo weave in educational components to their Spring Break extras. The zoo’s “interpretation stations” are often led

by retired teachers who are volunteering, zoo spokeswoman Jennifer Pue said.

“Just because you’re off from school on Spring Break doesn’t mean you should stop learning,” Pue said.

The zoo’s two new southern white rhinos, Nyota and Ophelia, were also a draw for families who hadn’t been to the zoo since the new residents’ arrival last month.

Amanda Johnson’s 3-year-old son, Jarret, is “obsessed” with rhinos. He fidgeted with anticipation while his mom took photos of him and two friends at the zoo’s entrance. It took a while to get the perfect photo.

The first few pictures showed the boys looking off in the distance. But as soon as Johnson gave the OK, the boys were off toward the animals.