Recovery continues one year after spill
Gulf Coast tourism officials want to woo back the thousands of visitors who canceled trips to the region last summer following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Media reports about tar balls, oil boons and chemical dispersants instilled doubts in travelers’ mind about their beach vacations. A few meeting planners made tough choices, too, opting to book short-term meetings elsewhere.
Tourism bureaus aren’t blaming anyone for making those choices, but they are asking people to come back. “What we’re doing is going back to the people who know us and love us. We know they’re the most likely to come back with the least amount of convincing,” Mike Foster, Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau vice president of marketing, told South Georgia’s WALB News. “We’re saying, ‘We understand you couldn’t come last year. We don’t hold it against you.’”
A year after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, little evidence of the world’s largest marine oil spill in history remains. Only a small portion of gulf waters around the site of the rig explosion remains closed to fishing. Though environmental agencies continue to track the effect the spill had on marine life and the water, beach towns along the coast are showing off their spotless beaches and fancy hotels.
Clearwater, Fla., has more than 600 new hotel rooms in the works, in addition to a multimillion-dollar investment in the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Pensacola, Fla., which hosted Florida Gov. Rick Scott on the anniversary of the start of the oil spill, has seen hotel revenue jump 15 percent since Oct. 1 compared to the same time last year. That’s following a 25 percent decrease last summer. And New Orleans had its best revenue year ever in 2010, as visitors spent $5.3 billion in the city. Officials expect visitor numbers to increase 3 to 5 percent this year.
“Look out here,” said Gov. Scott at the anniversary event in Pensacola. “The beaches are beautiful. The water is safe to swim in, the fishing is great and the seafood is safe to eat.”
Despite those repeated declarations, doubt still remains in the minds of some travelers. At Alabama’s Dauphin Island resort, for example, rentals are down 25 percent compared to last year, according to the USA Today. Louisiana expects visitors to spend $9.4 billion this year, compared to $9.6 billion in 2010. The Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, which has been tracking public perception of seafood since the spill, released a survey in December that indicated that 23 percent of consumers have reduced seafood consumption because of the spill and 71 percent still have some concern about its safety. It’s the most recent survey from board.
Hotel owners and tourism officials are eagerly awaiting Memorial Day weekend, a traditional indicator of the summer ahead. And while most destinations expect to see increased numbers compared to last summer, other external factors including gas prices and increased travel fees might damage an already delicate coastal recovery.
