The tar blobs that started washing into Pensacola on Friday may have pained the hearts of many in Florida, but for Gulf Coast tourism, it marks the beginning of the end of their 2 month long nightmare and a painful triage operation to separate out the destinations that have been hit by the oilspill.

Visit Florida oilspill ads

VisitFlorida dumped it’s Coast Is Clear message and moved towards a Need to Know ad highlighting the miles of beaches still untouched and the new Florida Live website which was setup as a response to the oilspill.

BP finally managed to set up the LMRP Cap which is now capturing upto 10,000 barrels daily from the leaking well. There’s still some oil leaking into the gulf, but the oilspill situation has scraped bottom and the real cleanup begins now.

The net result is that we now have something of a post-oilspill triage operation going on in the Gulf Coast to rebuild tourism.

1. On a statewide level, the $70 million BP tourism promotion grant for the Gulf Coast is being used to highlight destinations and attractions other the beaches.

Florida, for example, launched Live TV as a new addition to the Florida Live microsite. The first host was nature enthusiast Kevin Mims, who kicked off a real-time Florida road trip video blog starting off in Pensacola.

Florida also launched a new affordable travel series on Travel Channel. The first episode was aired on Saturday, June 5, and featured 5 attractions in Daytona Beach, including the new restaurant and sports entertainment center opened by Orlando Magic star and Daytona Beach native Vince Carter. None of the attractions directly feature the beaches or water.

Out of its $25m share of the BP money, VisitFlorida is spending $7 million on the ad campaign which has now started highlighting the Florida Live website, instead of the Coast is Clear message.

2.  Beach communities untouched by the oil in Florida and Mississippi are still pushing the beaches with live cams and daily updates showing clean beaches and open fishing waters. No mention of the oil that’s fouling up other beaches, but visitors are being given the option to cancel and get a refund if the oil impacts their trip.

3. For beaches that have been despoiled by the oil, the message is one of patriotism, voluntourism and helping these destinations get back on their feet, using celebrities to appeal in ads and appear for events.

In Alabama, they’re about to go on air with ads featuring celebrities including Taylor Hicks and Jimmy Buffett’s sister, who owns a gulfcoast restaurant. 

Based on the impact of the ads funded with their $15m share of BP money, Alabama expects only a 20% drop in visitors to the beach, even though the oil has hit the Gulf Shores and Orange beaches and beachgoers are being advised against going into the water.