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Wednesday, March 26, 1997

Merchants declare a dismal Spring Break

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) - Bad weather and competition from other tourist destinations made for a dismal Spring Break for merchants from South Padre Island to Matamoros, Mexico.

Business owners now are looking to the year's second-busiest season, Holy Week, to make up the difference.

"This is worst I have seen it in the 10 years we have been here," Lupe Espinoza, manager of Los Toros' Bar near downtown Matamoros, told The Brownsville Herald for Tuesday editions. "The last two years have been kind of slow, but never like this one."

Merchants said smaller-than-expected crowds, coupled with bad weather during the peak two weeks of Spring Break, dropped sales. Others said tourist destinations such as Panama City, Fla., drew more students this year.

"It was all right for us, but it did not turn out as big as we thought," said Sandra Kelly, a manager at Blackbeard's Restaurant on the island.

Lourdes Beltri, a disc jockey at Blanca White's, a popular restaurant and bar just across the border, said business was marginal compared with past years.

"They know about us and would probably keep coming to this place for as long as we are here," she said. "But it isn't as it used to be. Not at all."

Despite merchants' gripes, island tourism officials described Spring Break as a success and said Holy Week, or Semana Santa as it's known in Spanish, would bring an additional influx of visitors and dollars.

"We do feel very positive about, and we think this will also be a successful Semana Santa because we already started seeing a good influx of Mexican tourists," said Mark Thompson, executive director of the island's Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Holy Week, the seven-day period from Palm Sunday through Easter, is a popular vacation time for Mexicans, many of whom flock north of the border. On South Padre Island, it is one of the busiest weeks of the year in terms of sales and motel and hotel occupancy. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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