Tourism in South Padre Island

Tourism in South Padre Island

South  Padre Island, in the beginning, was a small island populated with native Karankawa Indians, birds of migration, and turtles on the seashore. The Island was presented as a gift to Nicholas Balli by King Carlos III and much later found its hands under Padre Jose, who resulted in permanent settlers coming into the area, with the leading site of attraction being the church. The city was known to have love; hence many people chose it as a place to spend their vacation. The area is also known to have a rich history, where many have joined hands in Holy matrimony alongside the beach, which gives an incredible view as the shore gets washed by the waves (“Our History”, 2019).

Policymakers in South Padre Island have made efforts to ensure there are proper security measures set in place to make sure that residents, guests, and tourists have a secure experience on the island during periods of vacation. Many people are known to spend their holidays along the beach. South Padre police force, together with the fire division, regularly hold meetings to discuss plans on how to deal with cases of tragic events that may occur in the area during spring breaks. Individuals requiring urgent treatment in hospital facilities have ambulances at strategic points to transport them as a result of the policies made by the cities leaders (Woosnam et al., 2015).

During spring breaks, cars cannot access certain areas to ensure the vast masses of people can easily access the beach facilities. The presence of beach patrol is mandatory to ensure the safety of the people in areas of recreation. Policymakers also provide adequate mobile lifeguards that are mostly present during spring breaks to prevent cases of tourists and residents drowning in the ocean. The chief of police also stated that they would have a crime victim support in police stations. Assaulted people who are not willing to file police reports will be able to get assistance from the police. Such actions will help in maintaining a secure environment for tourists on the Island (Woosnam et al., 2015).

Tourists from various parts of the world visiting South Padre Island explain that the Island is the best place to be during spring break. Tourists love the sand since it facilitates sports activities like jogging and bike riding, and the sand is clean, with no rocks, and has smooth particles. They also commented that the sand lacks many shells to collect. Another advantage is the calm waters making tourists enjoy dipping their feet in the water and carry out swimming activities. Tourists are in a position to see the sunset at Pier 19 and tour the Island using a scoot coupe. Tourists have another benefit as they have the honor of cooking what they catch (Williams, 2016).

When its time for lunch, tourists love spending their time along the beach dipping their feet into the warm sand as they enjoy their lunch together with family members. The Island has various skilled artists who portray their creativity using sand from the beach to create amazing sculptures that act as tourist attraction sites. During the day, some tourists love lying on the shores watching the incredible view of changing waves. The island is suitable for all ages to engage in recreation activities. Having inexpensive lodges, impressive beaches, and lovely places to enjoy your meals acts as an excellent advantage for tourists traveling to South Padre Island (Staff, 2020).

Residents in South Padre Island, Texas, explain that tourist activities in the area have affected them in various ways, by impacting their income and their quality of life. Tourism has provided several employment opportunities for residents resulting in paving the way for the improved infrastructure of the area due to the increase in investments. Tourism has led to the transformation of local businesses, as residents strive to cater demands of tourists in the area. Due to overcrowding, residents also say that rates of crime, prostitution, and the use of drugs have increased. Residents face challenges of increased pollution, traffic jams, and unruly behaviors  (Strzelecka, 2015).

Tourism managers have explained that they have specific measures in place to ensure the beach remains suitable for tourist and also reduce erosion of sand along the beach. The beach regularly gets raked and groomed to get rid of natural waste: Example, seaweed. The beach also gets raked to keep it comparatively level for ease in walking on the sand. Careless handling leads to excessive sand erosion. All seaweed removed is strategically deposited at the base of the dune vegetation to help in dune vegetation revival. The tourism managers have also taken initiatives to propagate dune vegetation in greenhouses, which will help with the rival of damaged dune vegetation. Other acts have helped to counter the effects of sand erosion: Example, they have located an offshore sand deposit. The offshore sand will facilitate replenishing the beach with more sand (Island, 2015).

All tourism stakeholders in South  Padre Island spoke of making sure all tourists visiting the area are comfortable as they explore the city since many tourists love going to the beach for recreational purposes. Tourism managers are promoting tourist’s comfort by ensuring that at all times, the beach has level sand to be walked on by tourists to avoid feet injuries. They are also making sure that the beach has adequate sand for both recreation and maintenance of its natural shores.

Policymakers are promoting tourist’s comfort by ensuring tourists enjoy security while staying in South  Padre Island. Firefighters are placed at strategic places to ensure they can cope with the dangers of fire that may arise. The police force is ensuring that during spring break, limited vehicles are allowed along the roads in areas near the beach; this is to facilitate the comfort of tourists as they walk towards various recreation facilities. Residents have also transformed their business to cater to requests of tourists for goods and services (Cuadros, n.d.).

Residents and policymakers share similarities. Both stakeholders share ideas on the cities security during spring breaks. Residents explain that tourism brings people from all walks of lives and some cause imbalance to the city as people indulge in unruly behaviors, engaging in drug addiction, crime, and acts of prostitution, which is contrary to norms of the residents. Policymakers, on the other hand, are trying their best to ensure that tourists and residents are secure and have guidelines to help them in case they want to file a police report.

There are various ways that the stakeholders of the city are ensuring the sustainability of the area. Tourism officials are taking necessary actions to prevent excessive sand erosion along the beach of South Padre Island. There have established greenhouses that help them in producing quality dune vegetation to ensure the beach remains to be eye-catching to both the residents and tourists in the city.

Policymakers are making sure everyone in the city is secure and also engage in practices that promote security in the city (Kelly, 2017). Police stations have necessary measures to ensure that anyone who gets assaulted has the law to help them. Policymakers, with the help of the health ministry, have set aside stand by ambulances to help those requiring urgent medical assistance. Ambulances ensure that such individuals have access to the nearest hospital facilities for treatment.

The city has invested its resources in developing its infrastructure through the taxes it acquires from tourists and residents, infrastructure carried out will help attract more tourists. South Pedro has invested in technology to add to the recreation activities people can use to have fun. For example, tourists are now able to tour different parts of the city using a scoot scope. People intending to build hotels and restaurants have researched how to make modern facilitates, which will accommodate more tourists (Garcia, 2016).

The city could also develop an atmosphere where start-up businesses have the opportunity to grow and maintain the natural environment (Ravella, Worsham, Mann and Trevino, 2012).  The city can achieve this by integrating friendly business practices: Example, lowering taxes on small scales retailers in the city to encourage the growth of such businesses. Also, partnerships with other regions should be encouraged, which will come a long way in helping to create additional alternative sources of revenue.

References

Cuadros, A. What a New Access to South Padre Island Means to Residents. KVEO-TV. Retrieved 5 April 2020, from https://www.valleycentral.com/news/local-news/what-a-new-access-to-south-padre-island-means-to-residents/amp/.

Garcia, R. (2016). South Padre Island mayor continues to develop Valley hotels. Valley Star. Retrieved 5 April 2020, from https://www.valleymorningstar.com/2016/08/19/south-padre-island-mayor-continues-to-develop-valley-hotels/.

Island, S. P. (2015). Beach Maintenance Procedures.

Kelly, R. (2017). Security upgrade: New airport rules mean X-rays for electronics. Valley Star. Retrieved 5 April 2020, from https://www.valleymorningstar.com/2017/10/19/security-upgrade-new-airport-rules-mean-x-rays-for-electronics/.

Our History. Sopadre. (2019). Retrieved 5 April 2020, from https://www.sopadre.com/about-us/history/.

Ravella, P. A., Worsham, B., Mann, R. E., & Trevino, R. (2012). City of South Padre Island Erosion Response Plan.

Staff, V. (2020). 25 Best Things to Do in South Padre Island, Texas. VacationIdea. Retrieved 5 April 2020, from https://vacationidea.com/destinations/best-in-south-padre-island.html.

Strzelecka Ph D, M. (2015). Looking At Residents’ Attitudes towards Spring Break Tourism in Texas through the Lens of Community Attachment. Hospitality Review, 31(4), 4.

Williams, A. (2016). 10 Awesome Things to Do on South Padre Island in Texas. Dangerous Business. Retrieved 5 April 2020, from https://www.dangerous-business.com/south-padre-island-to-do-list/.

Woosnam, K., Shafer, C., Scott, D., & Timothy, D. (2015). Tourists’ perceived safety through emotional solidarity with residents in two Mexico–United States border regions. Tourism Management, 46, 263-273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.06.022