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subota, 03.07.2010.

Gulf Coast is expecting a glum Fourth of July

Fireworks displays have been mesos canceled.White-sand beaches that should be crowded with sunbathers are insteaddotted with cleanup workers, booms and sand-sifting equipment. Normallypacked hotels are trying to fill rooms ahead of what is a crucialweekend for beach businesses.
Across the oil-stained Gulf Coast, it's going to be a glum Fourth of July.
"We got hit right between the eyes in June. July is starting to looklike a total disaster," moaned hotel owner Julian MacQueen, who saidhis 181-room Hampton Inn in Pensacola Beach, Fla., should be bookedsolid but is only 70 percent occupied, even with rooms reduced from$225 a night last year to as little as $150.
And those who make their living from tourism have a longer-term fear:that the vacationers who find other destinations this year will neverreturn.
At Souvenir City in Gulf Shores, Ala., owner Paul Johnson said thenumber of customers walking through the giant shark's-mouth entrance ofhis store to buy such things as T-shirts, flip-flops, hermit crabs,seashells and other beach kitsch is down by about half from last year.
"People who have been coming here for 20 or 30 years and went to Destinor Myrtle Beach or wherever may say, `Hey, we went there and reallyliked it. That's our wow gold place now,'" Johnson said, referring to spots in Florida and South Carolina.
The stakes are high for the hotels, motels, restaurants, souvenir shopsand ice cream stands along the beaches of what is affectionately knownas the Redneck Riviera.
"The Fourth of July is a key, key component," said Chris Thompson,president and CEO of Visit Florida, which promotes tourism in thestate. "It's one of the most critical weekends," when many businessesmake the bulk of their summer tourism income.
Tourism officials say there have been numerous hotel cancellationsacross the coast. About 25 percent of all rooms in the Pensacola Bayarea were still vacant on Friday, said Ed Schroeder, director of theconvention and visitors bureau. Last year, hotel occupancy was 100percent at the start of the holiday weekend.
The oil spill will probably ruin the holiday for Kenny DiNero, who runsa dockside bait and tackle shop in Ocean Springs, Miss. Normally on theFourth, the waters off Mississippi are full of boats. People fish andstop on islands to swim and have cookouts.
This year, "all the islands are closed because of the spill. Therewon't be any fuel sold. There won't be any ice sold. There won't be anybait sold. And there won't be any damn fishing," DiNero said. "Normallyon the Fourth buy wow gold I do $10,000 to $15,000 in sales. This weekend I'll be lucky to do $500."
Many businesses are fighting the misperception that every stretch of beach is coated in oil.
Pensacola Beach is doing its best to make its sands presentable. About1,300 BP employees and county crews are working overnight to cleanwhatever oil washes up during high tide. By most mornings, the touristsections are largely clean, with only orange and brown stains in thesand left behind.
Visitors like Laura Barbier of Dallas said they have been pleasantlysurprised. She said her family has been visiting the Gulf Coast everysummer for 15 years. They almost didn't come this year because of theoil.
"I'm glad we did," she said, stepping on a gooey tar ball that rolledin with a wave. "It's not as bad as the news made it sound."
In Alabama's Bayou La Batre and Dauphin Island, there isn't much tocelebrate this Independence Day, with tar staining the beaches andlivelihoods on the brink. Dauphin Island's new public beach has beenconverted into a staging area for the cleanup. Both communities havecanceled their fireworks displays.
"With this happening, tourism is dead. We just didn't feel the wholeatmosphere was conducive to a fireworks show," said Dauphin IslandMayor Jeff Collier. "People just aren't in the mood."
He added: "Maybe when this is over we'll have something cheap wow gold to celebrate. Maybe Labor Day?"

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