Return of tourism and meeting market for oil spill states

Everyone assumed the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill would hurt the ocean-meeting destinations of the four Gulf states: Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. But guess what?

The spill brought a lot of bad publicity about oil-splattered beaches and dead birds. CVB officials routinely were quoted as saying tourism in general was seriously hurt as well.

But last year’s overall tourism season was the best in years, according to a BP ad campaign launched late last year.

"Along the beaches of the Gulf Coast, 2011 ends with a surprise that no one expected this soon: a post-oil spill rebound in tourism, and record-setting at that," wrote the Examiner in Florida.

The reason in large part was $179 million in tourism promotion from BP that in many cases immensely raised recognition of the area that often was poorly advertised.

Tourism agencies for the impacted areas often found ways to effectively use the new promotion funds. Meetings are an important part of the comeback.

Three Emerald Coast counties in Florida, for example, spent most of their $21 million from BP to advertise that the area’s beaches were clean of oil to regional and national markets, said nwfdailynews.com. 

They also ran giveaway promotions designed to attract more tourists, put on concerts and funded local events, according to news reports.

The funding exponentially increased the budgets of local Tourist Development Councils, which have operated with less than $2 million annually in recent years.

"All of us recognize the grants definitely played a significant part in helping to produce those numbers," said Dawn Moliterno, executive director of the Walton County TDC. "The goal was to bring visitors back and have them spend and continue to support these communities, and they overwhelmingly did that."

And now a spurt of expanded attractions and facilities are coming on line along the 1,800-mile stretch along the Gulf of Mexico.

In each state, the meeting market has also made a comeback.

—In Florida, for example, a new 206-room Holiday Inn Pensacola opened with 4,515 square feet of meeting space. "Because of BP marketing grants, Visit Pensacola has been able to promote the area like never before," Terry Scruggs interim vp of tourism at Visit Pensacola, told MeetingsFocusSouth.

—In Alabama, Mobile has been offering off-site venues such as a 90.000 square foot GulfQuest, which is a national Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico set to open this fall.

—In Louisiana, the 1.1 million-square-foot New Orleans Morial Convention Center broke ground on a 60,000-quare-foot ballroom as the major component of a $50 million renovation due to open next February.

—In Mississippi, the Biloxi Mississippi Coast coliseum Convention Center increased its space from 180,000 to 413,000 square feet.

By David Wilkening