Warm beaches, sunburns, and heavy traffic are key features of spring break in Florida. On TripAdvisor this year, Clearwater Beach was rated #1 out of the 25 beaches in the United States with a 4.5 out of 5 star rating. With the endless amount of tourism, Clearwater Beach now has brand new hotels to attract more travelers, such as the $173 million Opal Sands Resort.

In addition,  this year a total of 10 of Florida’s beaches made it onto TripAdvisor’s list of Best Beaches in the United States. According to Florida’s Office of Governor’s website, there were a whopping 105 million tourists in the sunshine state last year. It’s not a new trend, according to the site.  This has been the fifth consecutive record year for visitation to Florida, with 2.9 million overseas visitors and 671,000 Canadians.

Hollie, 10^th grade, lives in Clearwater. “One thing I like about living in Clearwater Beach is that there’s a lot to do down there.” However, getting home for Hollie is hard due to all the traffic. “Between spring training and spring breakers, it takes me an hour to get to the beach when I live 5 minutes away.”