As summer unofficially ends, tourists head home and locals flock to area beaches

Gulf Shores, Alabama (WKRGMore) — For most tourists, Labor Day is a day of travel. Many of them vacationed in cars, trucks and RVs, heading north away from the beaches of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

“We drove up here and waved to every tourist going up 59,” laughs Calvin Valbo as he settles into his spot on the Gulf Shores beach.

For locals, Labor Day is something completely different.

“It’s a fun day,” said Gary Carty. “It is expected that the number of spectators will be lower in the coming months.”

It’s another busy summer season, with thousands of tourists flocking to the Gulf Coast to escape all the mundane, but Kay Maghan of Orange Beach Tourism’s Gulf Shores said it’s setting a new record. It is said that there is a possibility of becoming.

“We had a really good summer this year,” Maghan said. “We are on pace to literally match last year’s numbers, which is really great considering the whole world has resumed travel without restrictions.”

“I hate the end of summer,” says Tricia Carty, who has plenty of days at the beach before the weather gets cooler. “I try not to think like that.”

Summer is unofficially coming to an end, but the traffic and people will be lighter until next summer, when summer begins again.

September is usually a time for the hospitality industry to take a breather before the autumn season, which includes many big festivals and, of course, the return of the Snowbirds.