Spring break refers to a specific college vacation period typically observed in American and Canadian universities during the early spring of every year (March or April). Classes are suspended for a short period (usually 1 week). Many students take advantage of this opportunity to travel to warmer climates to escape the cold weather and dreariness of schoolwork. A popular vacation period with North American college students since the 1950s, spring break constitutes a significant tourism flux, with hundreds of thousands of young adults traveling in a nonpeak time of the year.

Spring-break tourism is often associated with several unhealthy, or even dangerous, activities, such as excessive alcohol consumption, drug and tobacco consumption, and risky sexual activity. The media’s increasing attention to spring break culminated in yearly ...