eTurboNews: Visitor numbers for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida dropped in the wake of the disaster that caused 205.8m gallons to spill some 18 months ago. Florida Governor Rick Scott said even tourism in the state's famous Panhandle was affected despite the minimal impact on its beaches.
"Around the state, people think that BP could be doing more to help market the entire state but what I said to them is, 'look, you need to help the whole state but you need to make sure the Panhandle gets back on its trajectory'," he said.
"We have a plan and BP has helped fund that plan and it's heading in the right direction but we're not there with regards to seafood. It's my belief that it's in their best interest to make sure tourism has come back."
Governor Scott said BP had given Florida $30m to fund campaigns to attract back its 82m tourists a year. Legal discussions over a state claim against the oil giant have yet to begin.
In Alabama, visitors to the coast dropped by 50pc last summer, according to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism. But an $18m advertising drive helped numbers not only recover but also rise by 30pc this year.
Mike Foster, marketing vice president at Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism, said: "We dramatically got hit in terms of people coming to our area. When we got our initial allotment of marketing dollars, we were thinking that this was going to be a three to five-year project. At this point, it doesn't appear that way. It appears the visitors are back."
BP said it had made a long-term commitment to support tourism in the Gulf states. A spokesman said: "BP has provided tourism grants to help the Gulf Coast states promote tourism in the Gulf region."
Fox News: The Gulf Coast lives for tourism dollars, and no where is that more true than in Biloxi, Miss., where instead of crowds, Tropical Storm Lee came for the Labor Day weekend. The beaches are empty, the casinos quiet and resorts are deserted.
City officials say they ended up having almost half the occupancy they were expecting.
Biloxi public information officer Vincent Creel says the Mississippi Gulf Coast was preparing for an almost sold-out weekend, with occupancy estimated at around 90 percent or higher. Casino and hotel employees were bracing for the 13,000 rooms across the coast to be full. That is, until Lee came along, bringing with it heavy winds and driving rains.
"Once it's named," Creel said. "People really start to relate," said Creel. He said Friday the cancelations started coming in. Driving visitors were urged to stay off the roads and flights were canceled.
Creel says those hotels that did have visitors, most likely gave inviting deals. "We tried to salvage what we could. But the business we did do was at a lower rate," Creel said.
And he said they're grateful for what business they did see, and despite the fact it was a big weekend for them, the area is still struggling to get back on its feet from other disasters.
Just a year ago they were urging people to visit, despite the BP oil spill. They wanted visitors to see how far they had come after getting wiped out from Katrina in 2005.
WLOX: A four day Fourth of July weekend begins today. And folks in the tourism industry are predicting big crowds this weekend. Last year, the normally busy Fourth of July holiday was tarnished by the impact of the oil spill.
Not so this year. There are certainly plenty of positive signs this day before the official start of the long holiday weekend: Busy beaches, boat trips and families enjoying some South Mississippi hospitality. All point to a promising holiday weekend.
Families are already flocking to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for a relaxing weekend.
"A quick getaway. Close by," was how Jim Parish of Florence, Mississippi described the upcoming coast weekend with his wife and kids. That's why the Parish family made the short drive south from Florence, Mississippi. We caught up with them boarding the "Sailfish" for the Biloxi Shrimp Trip.
"Kids have never been here. The wife and I have probably been ten plus years, if not more," he said.
"The beach. Just relaxing and enjoying the scenery. Just getting away from home for awhile," said his wife, Jodi.
Following last year's unwanted interruption from the oil spill, Biloxi Cruise Company has been enjoying a great summer so far. And numbers look good for the upcoming weekend.
"We're going to be packed out. We actually offered a fireworks cruise Monday night and are booked up already. Been booked up for a week and a half now. And we've been getting lots of calls for this weekend," said Brandy Moore with the Biloxi Cruise Company.
Plenty of folks will be soaking up Fourth of July sun on the beach this weekend. Don Irwin hit the sand shortly after his 14 hour drive from up north. "Well, this is nice. Yeah, we have nothing up there in Indiana like this," said Irwin.
While the 26 miles of sand beach might be the biggest attraction for tourists this holiday weekend, we also found plenty of visitors in the market for fresh seafood. While fishermen aboard the "Miss Kim" loaded ice for another shrimping trip, plenty of visitors lined up to fill their coolers with fresh shrimp.
"Picking up some shrimp. We're glad to see that the shrimp are in. So we're going to take those back to Central Mississippi," said Jackie Etie of Decatur, Mississippi."We went to Ship Island. And we've come over to get the shrimp. We went to New Orleans yesterday. And we've been fishing at his house, taking it easy," said Oklahoma City visitor, Steve Wells.
All signs point to a busy tourism weekend. Hotel operators are expecting a "good" weekend, but there are still plenty of vacancies.
CNN: Workers involved in the tourism industry along the U.S. Gulf Coast hope this Memorial Day weekend is one of their best in a long time. The threat of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill kept many tourists away from beach communities last year. Since the oil spill, BP has provided money to states to help promote tourism. So far, the oil giant says it has given Florida $42 million, Mississippi $18 million, Alabama nearly $30 and Louisiana $25 million in tourism grants.
Here are some comments about Gulf Coast tourism from people who work in the sector:
Mississippi: Janice Jones, a marketing manager at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Visitors Bureau said she is "hopeful about this year." She said "everyone kind of looks around for the piece of wood to knock on when you say that."
In addition to the 2010 oil spill, the area was also devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Jones said for Memorial Day weekend she is conservatively estimating that about 75% of hotel rooms will be booked -- a number that would be 10% more than in 2010 and the highest level in at least three years.
Additionally, she said the hotels this year will be filled with tourists, while last year they were filled largely with BP cleanup workers, who generally didn't spend money on tourist activities.
Alabama: Herb Malone, president and chief executive of Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism said lodging rates have been climbing. "Since October 2010, we have seen an upward trend every month."
Memorial Day tourism numbers for beach areas are up, even compared to years before the spill. Malone added, "We are seeing increases over 2009 figures, which is a good indication that things are moving in the right direction."
Florida: Will Seccombe, chief marketing officer for Visit Florida said "we are looking for a really solid Memorial Day, and a really solid summer."
Most of Florida's beaches never saw any crude come ashore. The area impacted last year by the oil, or rumors of oil, is "clearly bouncing back and it's a big bounce" he said. "Northwest Florida is going to have an incredible rebound year."
Louisiana: "We are looking much better for recreational tourism this year," said Jacques Berry, spokesman for the state Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism. He said a study shows "we are rebounding well on a regional basis (but) we still have work to do nationally with the perception about Louisiana seafood."
Much of the state's tourism centers around eating and catching seafood. "Locals (in the region) are quicker to understand what is going on," said Jill Kidder, co-executive director of the Louisiana Travel Promotion Association. "We are open and ready for business."
Friday, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries opened a six-mile stretch of beach known as Elmer's Island for the first time since it was hit by the oil. It comes at a good time, Berry said. "Red snapper season opens this weekend and that is exactly where they all go."
ABC Local: Tourism was hit hard after the BP explosion and oil spill, but it's slowly rebounding. People are returning to the coast.
Twelve months after 200 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf, nothing can keep Haileigh Ford out of the water. As far as she's concerned, the oil is gone. "It's not here anymore," said Haileigh, who was with her family in Gulf Shores, Alabama. But last year, BP's oil ruined Haileigh's vacation.
"All the oil. It was awful," she said. "I didn't like it. They should be more responsible than that." On that very beach last Labor Day, tourists in bathing suits were less common than cleanup crews in space suits. But now BP cleanup crews are gone. So are the tidal pools caked with BP oil.
All that heavy machinery that was scooping up those massive piles of sand and those disgusting tar patties are all gone, too. But just because tourists have returned and the place looks like the Gulf Shores lots of us remember, it doesn't mean the memories of last year are erased and neither are the doubts.
"Where did it go?" wondered tourist Jackie Johnson. "Where did all the oil go?"
The questions confuse scientists. Answers range from evaporation into the air to consumption by bacteria to still lying as some goopy sludge on the Gulf floor. Where it is or isn't, the uncertainty has cost Gulf Coast communities dearly. Current and future tourism losses are estimated at $300 million in Louisiana alone. Add in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama and it's worse.
"There is no closure yet," said Gulf Shores business owner Shaul Zislin. "Nobody has come out and said, 'Here is exactly what happened. Here is all the stuff we did.'"
Zislin owns the Gulf Shores beachfront bar, 'The Hangout.' He's received some of the more than $100 million BP gave to Gulf States to promote tourism. But business is still not all back to normal. "From what I understand, there are still crews on the ground. BP has not shut it down and left and said, 'The party's over,'" said Zislin.
The message from there though is come on over, the water's warm. But more importantly to Haileigh's mom, it looks clean. "They can go out as far as they want," said Michelle Ford, Haileigh's mother. "Everything is cleaned up."
Maybe not gone and the cleanup likely not over, but clean enough for vacation. And in Gulf Shores, that's a start.
ABC News: Gulf Coast tourism officials gathered for a meeting this week at a Florida Panhandle resort expressed measured optimism over the prospects for growth in 2011.
Even with the worst of the recession and the BP oil spill behind them, tourism officials say they expect it will be a year of modest growth with vacationers continuing to come back to the beaches and seafood restaurants they abandoned after the spill.
March spring break crowds were good but not great this year, with the more family oriented Easter break and summer seasons on the horizon. But many hotels are still offering discounts to keep rooms filled, and surveys show that many consumers falsely believe beaches in the Florida Panhandle and coastal Alabama are still awash with oil.
