Thousands flock to Pensacola Beach for its gorgeous sand. Keeping it that way is a chore.

Thousands of families have begun flocking to Pensacola Beach for some time in the sand and sun during their annual spring break.

With a growing list of restaurants, hotels, bars and stores, Pensacola Beach has developed into a destination with plenty of options for visitors to indulge in over the course of their trip, all of which comes back to help the local economy.

During the last fiscal year, Escambia County as a whole recorded 2.5 million visitors who had an economic impact of more than $2 billion, according to data from Visit Pensacola. The majority of those visitors are coming for the beach.

Typically during the spring break season, an estimated 19,000 to 20,000 cars come through the Bob Sikes Toll Booth each day, according to Escambia County Public Works Director James Higdon.

As the beach grows under the planning of the Santa Rosa Island Authority, it is managing a delicate balance between commercializing and cleanliness in order to remain an experience for all to enjoy.

Higdon has worked for the Public Works department for a decade and says that although the beach’s cleanliness has improved from what it was when he began, there’s still work to do in keeping trash off the sand.

“We actually remove about 180 cubic yards of trash every week, and that’s not counting special events,” Higdon said. “Leave nothing but your footprints, that would help us more than anything else.”

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The Public Works Department also has to deal with multiple issues such as glass bottles, fires and tents that are abandoned at night, all of which are unlawful under Pensacola Beach ordinances.

“We try to enforce it as best as we can, but we have 24 employees out there, doing 16-hour days for 365 days a year,” he continued.

Local resident Forrest Dowling was inspired to protect Pensacola Beach after getting dive certified and often finding trash in area reefs, once finding a shark with a fishing line tearing through its fin. Dowling aspires to be a marine biologist or conservationist and flies his drone around Pensacola Beach to watch the ecosystem from time to time.

“I really hope with how busy it gets over summer and spring break that people find themselves taking a small moment out of their day to pick up their trash or if someone else leaves behind a bottle, pick it up,” Dowling said.

As far as tourists are concerned, the cleanliness of Pensacola Beach has been a big factor in their experience, next to the stunning views and vast cuisine choices.

“I’m from the Dallas-Fort Worth area and hardly get to the beach (there), but I’ll say (Pensacola Beach) is far cleaner than what we have,” said visitor Tyler Yates.

Michelle Vandermartin, who was visiting from San Francisco last week, said the beach and its overall cleanliness was the favorite part of her work trip and is the main reason for wanting to bring along family and friends on her next visit. “The sand is unreal − the sand is not like what we have,” Vandermartin said.

Keeping that standard can't be up to just the public works department, however. Dowling emphasized the importance of a collective effort from visitors and residents to tackle the issue.

“It hurts to walk out onto the beach and see a sign that says leave no trace, then you walk within like 10 feet and someone’s leaving all their garbage out everywhere,” Dowling said. “I love that people love our beaches, but I wish that people would pick up their trash a little bit more and care about how it affects our marine life.

Higdon said the Public Works Department is trying new ideas every day to improve their efficiency and are considering adding compacting trash cans as well as an additional public restroom to aid in that effort.

“We’re on track (to break records) already and it’s not even the summer yet,” said Higdon. “We’re in the top 20 beaches in the nation every year and we take pride in that.”