Effects of the oil spill on the Gulf Coast economy

[knothead]

Hypothetically speaking, if you were out cruising earlier this year, would the oil spill have had any impact on your cruising plans?

Say you were planning to get some work done during the cruise and Tampa/St Pete were one of your options because of the marine industry. Would the oil spill have caused you to choose another location or would it have had no impact on your decision?

Or say the Gulf Coast is on your list of cruising destinations. Would the spill have caused you to postpone that trip in lieu of a different destination? Or would it have made no difference.

Or say you lived somewhere on the Gulf coast during the spill. Would you have postponed cruising until everything was settled? Would you have gone anyway and just gotten out of the Gulf as quickly as possible?
Would you have limited your cruising to your local area to avoid any problems?

Or say you were going to charter. Would you have avoided the Gulf Coast and chartered elsewhere?

[RTB]

Hey, it ain't over Knotty! 'Slime highway' of BP oil likely on Gulf floor - U.S. news - Environment - msnbc.com

Man, I love deep sea fishing! There is no steak from any high class restaurant that tastes as good as a freshly caught red snapper cooked up only hours after the trip. Problem for me is can I still eat fish/shrimp from the Gulf?

Also, I had a friend ask me to help him bring his boat back from Florida to Texas this past June. I did ask if this was a good idea on another forum, due to the fumes and oil we might come across. The consensus was that it was a very bad idea. I didn't make the trip, not due to this issue. But it was definitely a concern. Honestly, I think the Gulf is screwed!

Sorry. I doubt this was what you were looking for.

[knothead]

Originally Posted by RTB

Sorry. I doubt this was what you were looking for.

No, I was actually trying to get some sort of gauge of how much economic effect there really was.

Ken Feinberg has taken over the responsibility of dispersing the BP fund and I'm expecting him to argue that there wasn't a negative effect in places that didn't actually see any oil. Such as the Tampa area. There are many marine related business in the Tampa bay region and I'm wondering if sailors would have changed their plans because of the spill.
Doesn't seem to be much interest though.

[denverd0n]

The newspaper and TV around here have been full of stories about hotels, restaurants, and charter operations that saw a significant downturn in business this summer. In some cases (hotels getting reservations canceled, for instance) they were able to determine conclusively that it was because of the spill. In most cases they are just seeing much less business than last year. That could be because of the economy, or it could be because of the spill, but there is no way to prove it.

Meanwhile, the closest that any surface oil came to the Pinellas beaches was several hundred miles.