Jun 29, 2010
Traveling Near The Gulf
Because of the major gulf oil leak, some travelers may be leery of traveling these days down near the gulf coast. For fear that the beaches are covered in oil, tourism has been down. Along with the tourism being down, a lot of the fishing businesses in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are currently not in operation as well. How can they fish in oil? Obviously this is effecting the economy in certain spots, but is it all over the gulf like some think?
In an article published on June 14 on ABCNews.com, Miami Beach Rep. Richard Steinberg is quoted saying “People outside of the U.S. look at Florida as one (beach) and don’t understand if there’s a little bit of oil in the Panhandle, they think it’s all over the state.” Despite fears, Sundance Vacations contacted a few of our customers who have been traveling near the Panhandle during this oil leak crisis. Pat Gerdeman, who traveled to one of our locations in Destin, FL ( located on the Panhandle just east of Pensacola, FL) during June 6-10, said that she ran into no problems while vacationing, the beaches were beautiful and tourism didn’t seem to be down. Asked if people were fearful in Destin, Pat felt that the media makes it out to be worse than it really is. Another customer who traveled near the coast said they also experienced a great time without being effected by the oil spill.
Here is a video update from last week about the beaches from Destin, FL:
Even though the Panhandle has had some oil creep onto the beaches, most of the beaches are still clear and clean. In the same article, we learn that “South Florida tourism officials are pushing for [a] campaign to clarify that the vast majority of Florida’s 825 miles of beaches are oil-free.” The article concludes with Steinberg worrying that all the media attention and recent presidential visit will put the wrong image in the heads of tourists. For now most of the beaches in Florida are clear, even in the Panhandle. Pensacola has been the only area to close portions of the beach.
As Florida battles the bad perception the oil spill may be giving it’s beaches and tourist areas, other areas such as Mississippi beaches remain open despite seeing oil on some of their beaches. The Mississippi Gulf Coast Official Website states that “With large amounts of oil and tar balls washing up on South Mississippi beaches Monday, state officials have issued advisories for two areas along the beach in Harrison and Jackson Counties. These beaches are not closed and beach goers may continue to use these beaches, but the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and the Mississippi State Department of Health advise people to be aware of their surroundings while recreating.” Many other areas can not say the same such as in Louisiana, whose beaches have been devastated by the oil.
As the gulf oil leak crisis continues to leak oil without an end in site, gulf officials are doing everything they can to contain the spill and keep our beaches clean. Tourists can also help out by volunteering. Check out the following sites for more information on volunteering for the four northern gulf states:
http://www.volunteerlouisiana.gov/- Louisiana
http://www.volunteerflorida.org/ – Florida
http://211connectsalabama.org/ – Alabama
http://www.mcvs.org/ – Mississippi
