If dire predictions that oil from the British Petroleum oil debacle in the Gulf of Mexico are entering the so-called "loop current" prove accurate, Florida has good reason to be worried about harm to tourism - as do other coastal states in the Southeast, including the North Carolina Outer Banks region which is less than 25 from the Gulf Stream flow. Should the feckless folks at BP fail to stop the oil flow and Barack "Chicken Shit" Obama fail to get government assets more involved in stopping the disaster - no matter the cost to BP, the economic and environmental effects could be disastrous. Especially in states already reeling from the economic recession. *
The reality is that if summer tourism is badly reduced by concerns that oil slicks will cover beaches and/or foul offshore waters, it could mean bankruptcy for many businesses. In nearby Virginia Beach, hotels and many other businesses must make enough money in the summer months to keep them afloat and able to handle debt service and other operational costs the rest of the year. Ditto for the Outer Banks and every other beach resort area down the East Coast. Waiting for BP to fix a disaster it created does not constitute leadership from the White House. The New York Times looks at growing concerns in Florida. Here are some highlights:
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Off Florida’s Gulf Coast, the seas are calm and the king mackerel are running. Capt. Joe Meadows’s telephone should be ringing with bookings for his 42-foot sport-fishing boat for the summer season. Instead, the calls are from reservation holders wondering if they should cancel.
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For now, Florida tourism is living and dying in 72-hour increments. While no oil from the spill — sheen, slick, blobs or balls — has washed ashore on Florida beaches yet, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection is guaranteeing such conditions for only three days at a time.
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[B]ookings to destinations on Florida’s West Coast declined around 15 percent in the three weeks after the spill, compared with the three weeks before the spill, said Katie Deines Fourcin, a spokeswoman for Expedia.com. She said the trend was slightly worse for the Panhandle region.
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Many travelers have already decided to avoid the area for now. Robert Baldari, 60, and his four brothers had chosen Key West for a week of scuba diving and dining for their annual vacation, but they postponed their trip this week.
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Under normal circumstances, most hotels in the Panhandle would be fully booked by now for Memorial Day weekend — the traditional start of the peak summer tourism season. This year, plenty of rooms are still available. “The pace of new reservations is down 70 percent,” said Julian MacQueen, chief executive of Innisfree Hotels, which operates four hotels along the Alabama and Florida Gulf Coast.
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The same situation is playing out hundreds of miles away at Florida’s southern tip. When asked if new reservations were down at her Key West hotel, Carol Wightman, owner of the Marquesa, laughed and said, “Have you heard the phone ringing?”
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[T]he spill could still have a substantial effect on fish populations, Dr. Ortner said. “I am concerned that a lot of species’ larvae — snapper, lobster, blue fin tuna, dolphin, billfish — are out on the edge of the Gulf Stream and loop,” he said, referring to the powerful current that carries warm water in a clockwise motion from the Yucatán Peninsula into the northern Gulf of Mexico, then south of the Florida Keys and out into the Atlantic. “Newborns and larvae are much more sensitive that adults. They are vulnerable.”
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Damage to those populations would be more bad news for Captain Meadows and the $5.2 billion sport fishing industry.
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The boyfriend and I are headed to South Florida Memorial Weekend to visit a couple of his clients - one in Ft. Lauderdale and one in Marathon Key - and then a friend in Key West. Obviously, we are worried as to what we may find. With airline tickets non-refundable, we will be going no matter what, but many other tourists do have the option of cancelling or not booking in the first place.
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Off Florida’s Gulf Coast, the seas are calm and the king mackerel are running. Capt. Joe Meadows’s telephone should be ringing with bookings for his 42-foot sport-fishing boat for the summer season. Instead, the calls are from reservation holders wondering if they should cancel.
*
For now, Florida tourism is living and dying in 72-hour increments. While no oil from the spill — sheen, slick, blobs or balls — has washed ashore on Florida beaches yet, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection is guaranteeing such conditions for only three days at a time.
*
[B]ookings to destinations on Florida’s West Coast declined around 15 percent in the three weeks after the spill, compared with the three weeks before the spill, said Katie Deines Fourcin, a spokeswoman for Expedia.com. She said the trend was slightly worse for the Panhandle region.
*
Many travelers have already decided to avoid the area for now. Robert Baldari, 60, and his four brothers had chosen Key West for a week of scuba diving and dining for their annual vacation, but they postponed their trip this week.
*
Under normal circumstances, most hotels in the Panhandle would be fully booked by now for Memorial Day weekend — the traditional start of the peak summer tourism season. This year, plenty of rooms are still available. “The pace of new reservations is down 70 percent,” said Julian MacQueen, chief executive of Innisfree Hotels, which operates four hotels along the Alabama and Florida Gulf Coast.
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The same situation is playing out hundreds of miles away at Florida’s southern tip. When asked if new reservations were down at her Key West hotel, Carol Wightman, owner of the Marquesa, laughed and said, “Have you heard the phone ringing?”
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[T]he spill could still have a substantial effect on fish populations, Dr. Ortner said. “I am concerned that a lot of species’ larvae — snapper, lobster, blue fin tuna, dolphin, billfish — are out on the edge of the Gulf Stream and loop,” he said, referring to the powerful current that carries warm water in a clockwise motion from the Yucatán Peninsula into the northern Gulf of Mexico, then south of the Florida Keys and out into the Atlantic. “Newborns and larvae are much more sensitive that adults. They are vulnerable.”
*
Damage to those populations would be more bad news for Captain Meadows and the $5.2 billion sport fishing industry.
*
The boyfriend and I are headed to South Florida Memorial Weekend to visit a couple of his clients - one in Ft. Lauderdale and one in Marathon Key - and then a friend in Key West. Obviously, we are worried as to what we may find. With airline tickets non-refundable, we will be going no matter what, but many other tourists do have the option of cancelling or not booking in the first place.
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