The Group Travel Leader, Inc.
301 E. High Street
Lexington, KY 40507
859.253.0455

Industry confronts continued oil crisis

Courtesy Galveston CVB

GALVESTON, Texas – The sighting of inky black tar balls in Galveston, Texas, on July 4 confirmed that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill had made touchdown in every state along the Gulf Coast. Now Gulf tourism organizations and attractions are battling back against the negative media the growing amounts of spilled oil has caused.

So far in July, new sightings of oil include Galveston; Port Arthur, Texas, near the border of Louisiana; Long Beach, Miss., west of Gulfport; and Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain. Close to New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain’s oil contamination shows that the spill is reaching deeper into Louisiana via waterways connecting the Gulf with the lake.

 

Officials and convention and visitors bureaus in locations recently affected by oil like Galveston made sure to calm fears of potential visitors with facts about the spill.

 

“We’ve got 32 miles of beaches here, and 18 gallons of tar balls were picked up that day, a very small amount,” said Joe Jaworski, mayor of the island city of Galveston. “There is no oil sheen, no further sightings, and we have shoreline assessment teams inspecting the beaches continuously.”

 

The New Orleans Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau wants to similarly ease nervousness about the oil in Lake Pontchartrain interfering with vacations to the area.

 

“While the lake borders the northern boundary of New Orleans, it is used primarily by locals for recreational purposes,” said Kelly Scholz, vice president of communications for the New Orleans CVB. “It is not a tourist attraction or a drinking-water source.”

 

Despite the reassurances, many potential vacationers seeing the images of wildlife covered in oil from Gulf wetlands have chosen to go elsewhere for their vacation. Many look to the Atlantic Coast for the safer travel option with places like Hilton Head, S.C., Cape Cod, Mass., and Myrtle Beach, S.C., receiving some of the would-be Gulf Coast tourists.

 

People are also venturing to landlocked locations, such as Gatlinburg, Tenn., and Ashville, N.C., for their vacations.

 

“It’s bittersweet because of the nature of this catastrophe,” said Walter Yeldell, tourism manager for the city of Gatlinburg, in response to its rise in visitors formerly planning to tour the Gulf Coast.

 

Places like Ashville have tried to ensure they don’t appear to profit from the Gulf disaster by raising funds to help the threatened Gulf Coast ecosystem. The town’s convention and visitors bureau started an online campaign to raise funds for the Gulf, while other tourism partners donated 10 cents per visitor to the AshevilleTourismCares.com website.

 

In response to the possible loss of tourism dollars from the oil spill, more and more Gulf hotels are offering special promotions to attract guests, including Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort and Spa’s Two Cents offer where the resort charges two cents for the third night of a stay.

 

Other locations like the Hilton hotels are waiving cancellation fees for people unsure about how the conditions of the beach will be when they take their vacation.

 

The Gulf’s variety of attractions other than the beach has also become a main selling point for many destinations. The Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Destin, Fla., opened a floating water park on July 2 in Horseshoe Bayou instead of the ocean.

 

“We’ve got seven miles of beach,” said Laurie Hobbs, Sandestin’s director of public relations and marketing communications. “But we’ve also got miles of bay, so we decided to take the offensive and add the park as another water option for peace of mind for travelers who may be nervous about swimming in the ocean, even though our beaches have never closed.”

On July 11, Jimmy Buffett performed a free concert for 35,000 people in Gulf Shores, Ala. in an effort to lure crowds to the Gulf’s beaches. Buffett and other performers donated their time for the Gulf Shores concert.

 

According to the Associated Press, this should be the first of a string of free concerts on the coast paid for with part of the $15 million tourism grant from BP. Faith Hill, Zac Brown and Jack Johnson are among the names listed as possible concert performers designed to generate business for the Gulf.

As of July 16, the oil leak has been successfully capped, but BP hopes to use a relief well to permanently plug the leak by mid-August. This comes as good news to the tourism industry of the Gulf, since no new leaking oil means all the focus will be on cleaning the beaches for good.

 

For more information, visit www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com.

Click here to read more Group Travel Minute articles