The Obama administration’s newly-unveiled long-term recovery plan for the Gulf Coast includes a proposed marketing drive to encourage visitors back to the region.
The plan, outlined in a report submitted by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, calls for the administration to partner with state and major municipal governments to develop a coordinated plan that would be funded by those responsible for the oil spill. The report calls tourism “a mainstay of the Gulf economy” and says that marketing efforts to promote tourism “should remain a priority if future funds become available.”
The report noted that domestic and international travelers to the five Gulf States spent about $145 billion in 2008, and approximately 1.7 million people were employed in travel and tourism. Roughly a third, or approximately 587,000 people, were employed in the coastal counties of the five Gulf States, representing almost 9 percent of total employment in these areas. Based on the number of people employed in the travel and tourism industry, approximately one third of total tourism dollars, or about $51 billion, were spent in the coastal counties.
