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Gulf Oil Spill Taking Toll On Vacation Plans
Travel Agents Urge Folks Not To Panic
POSTED: 1:34 pm CDT May 6, 2010
UPDATED: 8:57 am CDT May 7, 2010
JACKSON, Miss. --Many Gulf Coast companies that rely on business from tourists are trying to get the word out that beaches have not been affected by a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Some rental companies in Gulf Shores, Ala., and Orange Beach, Ala., are changing the way they do business.Brett Robinsonrelaxed its cancellation policy. If someone cancels a vacation because of the oil spill, Robinson will give that person a full refund.
Even though the oil hasn’t washed ashore, news about the spill still prompted some travelers to change their vacation plans.
“The customers have dropped off immensely,” Raleigh Carter of Beach Rentals said. “They’ve stopped coming, and I've read enough articles so that if I was customer, I'd be scared silly.”
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Jackson resident Shambani Watts isn't trying to get to Gulf Shores, but he has been trying to plan trips to Venice, La., to do inshore and offshore fishing. He scheduled a trip last weekend, but he said he had to cancel it because of the oil spill. Federal officials banned fishing in his favorite spot until at least May 17. Watts said that he has been fishing near the oil rigs for 15 years.
“It's the best fishery that I've see in the Gulf of Mexico,” Watts said. “Venice has everything in one little package down there, so it's a huge setback.”
After canceling his trip to Louisiana, Watts decided to fish at the Ross Barnett Reservoir instead.
Travel agent Peggy Shamburger has several cruises booked around Memorial Day and she has been flooded with phone calls from people concerned about their cruises out of New Orleans, she said. So far, the oil slick has not affected cruises. During times like this, Shamburger recommends travelers look carefully at trip cancellation insurance.
“The thing you have to make sure of is that you have a clause in the insurance policy that covers you for any reason, canceling for any reason, because natural disasters are not normally included in the covered reasons of a cancellation insurance policy,” Shamburger said.
Mississippi Development Authority's Tourism Division said Thursday that the state’s beaches are clear of oil. MDA said there's no danger and everything is safe.