Though the beach season is kicking into high gear, the oil that continues to spill into the Gulf of Mexico is bound to put a damper on the tourism industry. So how do you promote your sunny beaches when your sunny beaches are stained with oil? It’s not easy…
One group, The Gulf Shores/Orange Beach Social Club, has a website and YouTube channel called “The Beach Is Calling.” A series of “Daily Beach Update” videos features host Rebecca Wilson describing each day’s beach conditions in Alabama. And it’s not just about the weather.
In one video from June 20, Wilson says that the “weather has been perfect, and our oil impact has been less this weekend.” Sure, they’re “still seeing some scattered tar balls wash ashore,” and there’s a “precautionary swim advisory” still in effect. But that’s no reason not to come on down for a free Jimmy Buffett concert on July 1 in Gulf Shores.
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In a video from June 22, Wilson says that they are “still seeing scattered signs of oil across our 32 miles of beaches. However our impact has been much less lately.” She adds that “we’ve been getting questions from many of you wondering if there will still be fireworks on July 4. And the answer is yes!”
Another group, called ResortQuest for Northwest Florida, put up a bunch of videos with on-site testimonials from beachgoers. In one, a woman visiting Panama City Beach, Florida, testifies that “there’s no tar balls that I see” and that her “daughter is swimming with her friend in the ocean.”
She adds: “I know people are worried about the oil spill, as we were,” but says the beaches are “clean” and “beautiful.”
