Page 6 - TTC MAY 26

U.S. NEWS A7
Tuesday 26 May 2015

Once vilified, BP now getting credit for gulf tourism boom

Demarkis Mosley, left, and his wife, Alexandria, of Starkville, didn’t even realize that Al- happening in a vacuum: blackened beaches would
Miss., play in the sand on their vacation in Gulf Shores, Ala. In- abama and Mississippi had Many U.S. attractions have permanently change travel
dustry officials say Gulf Coast tourism is surging, five years after coastlines. “I’ve traveled seen big increases during patterns and leave towns
the BP oil spill. as recently as the spring to the same period as the like Gulf Shores, Alabama,
California and there were economy recovered fol- and Destin, Florida, as the
(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) people there who were lowing the 2008 financial forgotten coast.
saying, ‘Hey, I saw those crisis and Americans re- Ted Scarritt, who offers tour-
JAY REEVES Louisiana’s coast. commercials about Ala- turned to the road. ist cruises in Orange Beach
Associated Press Meanwhile, many are still bama,” said coastal con- The theme parks of Orlan- aboard his 53-foot catama-
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. (AP) wrangling with BP over spill- dominium developer Bill do, Florida, helped draw ran “Wild Hearts,” remem-
— With the Memorial Day related claims. Attorneys Brett. “I really think those a record 62 million visitors bers crying and praying
holiday here, fallout from for businesses and individu- commercials helped.” to the city last year, and while the spill was happen-
the oil spill that left Gulf als claiming damages from Brett is an owner of Brett/ theU.S. Travel Associa- ing. Scarritt, who also owns
Coast beaches smeared the spill announced a $211 Robinson Real Estate, tion expects Americans to a beach service company,
with gooey tar balls and million settlement last week where he said business is up spend about 5 percent purchased the sailboat
scared away visitors in 2010 with Transocean Ltd., own- about 30 percent since the more this Memorial Day only months before the spill
is being credited, oddly, er of the failed Deepwater year before the spill. The than last. and had to keep it out of
with something no one Horizon drilling rig. company has developed But back in 2010, there the oil-marred waters that
imagined back then: An Yet, at the same time, park- 19 buildings with more than were questions and fears summer.
increase in tourism in the ing lots are full outside the 3,200 condo units on the over whether the tourist Today all that seems like a
region. same coastal hotels and Alabama coast, including economy of the northern bad, distant dream as he
Five years after the BP di- condominium towers that one that was finished with Gulf Coast would ever re- watches clear gulf waters
saster, the petroleum gi- struggled for business and a $37 million settlement cover from the spill. Resi- slide past the hull during an
ant that was vilified during slashed prices while crude from BP after the spill. dents feared that images afternoon of sailing off Ala-
heated town hall meet- was pouring into the gulf off The tourism surge isn’t of oil-soaked birds and bama’s coast.q
ings for killing a way of life Louisiana’s coast in 2010.
is now being praised by Visitors bob in surf where oil
some along the coast for once washed in, and some
spending more than $230 restaurants have 90-min-
million to help lure visitors ute waits for dinner on the
back to an area that some weekend. Tourist business
feared would die because has doubled in Alabama’s
of the spill. largest beach towns since
Questions remain about before the spill, officials
the long-term environmen- say, and Pensacola Beach,
tal impacts of the BP disas- Florida, is so clogged with
ter, with a report released visitors that traffic is a pri-
just last week finding a defi- mary problem.
nite link between the spill Many attribute the change
and a record die-off of the in large part to the millions
bottlenose dolphins that of dollars that BP spent on
tourists love to spot along tourism grants and adver-
the northern Gulf Coast. tising that promoted the
Pockets of oil still blot the Gulf Coast nationwide to
sea floor and spots along people who previously