Alabama's tourism industry, which thrives because of the panhandle's pristine white sand beaches, has been hard hit by the havoc wreaked along the Gulf Coast by crude gushing from BP's Deepwater Horizon wellhead.
"As somebody who works with taxpayers, I'm certainly worried about the tax base of the Gulf State economies," said Diane Hite, agricultural economics professor at Auburn University. "We're going to have loss of tax revenues from all the businesses, all of the income, etc. There's kind of a multiplier impact that happens. It's not just the one thing.
"Because, you know, people that go down there, they're just not going to go fishing," Hite added, "but they're maybe buying gas, maybe eating at McDonald's, so there is just a huge trickle-down effect of that."
According to an Alabama Tourism Department report on the economic impact of Alabama's tourism industry, Baldwin and Mobile counties, which border the Gulf, were visited in 2009 by more than 7 million people who spent roughly $3.13 billion in the area, one third of the total tourism-related expenditures in Alabama.
The impact of the oil spill on Alabama's Gulf Coast residents and businesses will also negatively affect tax revenues for a state already battered by the recession and already facing budget gaps. In 2009, Baldwin and Mobile counties contributed almost $15 million of the approximately $43 million in state revenues collected from lodging taxes, according to the report.
The financial impact of the oil spill on Dauphin Island's normally robust tourism industry has been "dramatic," said Mike Henderson, executive director of the Dauphin Island Parks and Beach Board, an organization created in the 50s to set aside areas for people to have recreational opportunities and to promote tourism.
"I know at Fort Gaines, we've probably had at least a 60 percent drop in visitation," Henderson said. "The Civil War has nothing to do with the beaches, or swimming or fishing, but still we've had a 60 percent drop."
Henderson said there have been some cancellations at a large campground on the island, but that many people have taken those vacancies. While the oil spill hasn't had a dramatic effect on the campground, it has affected house rentals on the island, which have probably dropped by 80 percent, he added.
He said the highway counters used by the Department of Transportation document that millions of people drive to Dauphin Island each year.
"They're not coming down for the nightlife. They're not coming down for roller coasters and things like that," Henderson said. "They're coming down to experience the beauties of a natural barrier island."
Henderson said Dauphin Island is internationally famous as a location for bird watching, adding that Wild Bird Magazine named it as one of the top spring migration locations in North America. Fishing is also a major attraction drawing tourists to Dauphin Island.
"We normally have about nine or 10 large annual fishing tournaments each year," Henderson said. "The Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo is the oldest and largest fishing tournament in the nation."
On June 15, the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo Board of Directors and Executive Committee announced on its website they were canceling the 78th Rodeo because of "the increasing closures of federal and state waters and the uncertainty surrounding the Deepwater Horizon oil spill."
"That's what is so scary about what's going on right now because it's impacting what is most important to us," Henderson said.
While the actual amount of oil coming into Dauphin Island has been small, the impact of the resources placed there has been large, Henderson said, who added that BP has been stockpiling equipment, materials and vehicles, and bringing in tremendous amounts of people.
"We are a small island, so it's almost been like an occupied state or something," Henderson said. "Now, we're very appreciative for all of the resources that are being brought in, and if the oil starts coming in like it has other places, we want them to have even more people down there."
The public beach on the island's west end has been closed for more than two months and is now a staging area for the National Guard, Henderson said.
The public beach on the island's east end has also been impacted by the spill.
"About a third of our beach parking area, we have given to the BP environmental groups to use," Henderson said. "And we have a constant amount of people out on the beaches. There are tents, shelters, portalets and things like that."
He said the lingering effects of the Deepwater Horizon disaster are scarier than the hurricanes that have come in and damaged the island in the past.
"It's a pretty rough process putting back the pieces and rebuilding, but you move on," Henderson said. "But this (oil spill) is like a slow, day-to-day nightmare. It's just one day after the other."
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