When the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic five years ago, tourism worldwide and in Arizona was dramatically reduced. Now, experts say spring break travelers are hitting the road in larger numbers than ever before.
“AAA has definitely seen record demand for traveling in the last few years,” said AAA spokesperson Julian Paredes. “Spring is definitely a travel season for millions of people. So, yeah, March and April definitely are gonna be busy in Arizona.”
While Arizona’s becoming an increasingly popular destination, he said, “The top candidate is gonna be Florida, but also Southern California — pretty much anywhere with access to water is going to be really busy.”
Paredes said some key things to double check before hitting the road include some of the most common reasons people call AAA for help: “Tires and car batteries. And check your AC, like right now. Because a lot of people find out during the summertime that, oh, their AC is not working.”
Paredes added that you can also expect travel costs to be higher than usual this time of year, especially for airfare and hotels.
