While the 1,800-mile shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico has seen more than its share of upheaval due to natural and manmade disasters, the area’s remarkable resiliency points to a bright year ahead.
Periodic hurricanes within the last decade decimated many destinations, which rebounded with sparkling new infrastructure. Then came the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill last April, which resulted in lost summer business for many destinations even though actual damage to beaches was minimal.
Tourism took a hit in Southwest Florida beach destinations that never even saw oil. And it devastated business for the smaller coastal communities of Louisiana that did.
From last May through August, the six coastal counties from Alabama’s Gulf Coast east through the Florida Panhandle saw declines in lodging revenues. However, the three coastal counties in Mississippi, plus Mobile, Ala., ended up with increases over 2009.
Last summer saw an unprecedented outpouring of promotions to combat perception issues—from free big-name beach concerts and consumer deals to daily national TV update commercials and the extensive use of social media. To aid tourism marketing, BP initially granted $15 million each to Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana and $25 million to Florida.
Meanwhile, the final stage of rejuvenation from past hurricanes still continues with the opening of new and renovated hotels, event facilities and attractions.
LOUISIANA
New Orleans
Following the spill, TV crews descended on the New Orleans riverfront, interviewing chefs about the safety of seafood. The oil itself never touched the city, of course, which is 100 miles inland.
The Big Easy moved on, becoming one of the top economic recovery cities of 2010.
"Our tourism product has never been better," says Kelly Schulz, spokeswoman for the New Orleans CVB. "The Super Bowl united the city, giving it worldwide coverage. We had an aggressive $5 million summer marketing campaign. They combined to drive in business. Many festivals had record attendance."
With 1.1 million square feet of exhibit space, the New Orleans Morial Convention Center spent $31 million in improvements during the past three years, much of it on new technology. That’s in addition to a $60 million makeover before reopening in 2006 after Katrina.
The last major hotel Katrina shuttered reopens this fall. The 1,193-room Hyatt Regency with 200,000 square feet of meeting/exhibit space by the Louisiana Superdome and New Orleans Arena is being transformed. Groups are being booked for dates starting in January 2012.
The adjacent redeveloped pedestrian mall was unveiled in September as the 60,000-square-foot Festival Plaza-Champion Square, a new sports and entertainment area with performance space.
Lake Charles
Dependent on the energy industry and its casinos a magnet for the Texas market, Lake Charles also markets ecotourism, hunting and fishing, and the 100-mile long Creole Nature Trail.
With a civic center with 62,000 square feet of rentable space, its historic downtown also has the new Lakefront Promenade and Marina available for festival-style water events.
Its largest meetings hotel is Pinnacle Entertainment’s 1,000-room L’Auberge du Lac Hotel & Casino, which has 28,000 square feet of meeting space. Last year Pinnacle canceled its adjacent 400-room Sugarcane Bay casino resort, for which it had already undertaken groundwork.
According to Shelley Johnson, executive director at the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana CVB, the destination saw a slight decrease in business in 2010.
"We are now seeing an upswing. We were not affected directly by the oil spill. We didn’t see any oil, but we were battling the perception that the entire coast was shut down," she says.
TEXAS
South Padre Island
Three blocks wide and 34 miles long near the Mexican border, South Padre has faced a different challenge—the aftermath of Hurricane Dolly, which struck in July 2008.
"In 2009 we were still recovering from the impact of the hurricane, and 2010 was a much better year for us," says Dan Quandt, South Padre Island CVB executive director.
Last July saw a new 127-room Hilton Garden Inn, with 7,000 square feet of meetings space, open. It is close to the primary venue, the South Padre Island Convention Center, which has 45,000 square feet of available space and which reopened after repairs in October 2008. Also nearby is the new $6.5 million South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, which opened in September 2009.
"The new hotel with its meeting space is a great additional asset for us. We have gotten back some rooms but we are still a little short," Quandt says, explaining that the hurricane eliminated about 40 percent of the guest rooms that had been in meetings hotels.
Two major hotels did not reopen: Bahia Mar Resort & Conference Center and the South Padre Beach Resort.
Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi, Texas’s largest beachfront city, has as its top venue the waterfront American Bank Center, which includes 75,000 square feet of exhibit space and an adjacent 10,000-seat arena.
"We expect to see an uptick this year," says Keith Arnold, CEO of the Corpus Christi CVB. "It was flat in 2010, but state associations are now showing stronger numbers. Most of the [decrease] we saw came from diminished exhibitor numbers, and the number of exhibitors is beginning to pick up."
For 2010, the CVB launched a new meetings incentive, free beach parties downtown with convention bookings, which will continue through 2011.
Galveston
A barrier island two miles wide with 32 miles of beaches 50 miles south of Houston, Galveston Island has been steadily recovering its numbers after the severe damage from Hurricane Ike in September 2008.
"We had a good summer. Convention business held steady last year and we are seeing an increased number of leads and bookings. We look forward to another good growth year," says Meg Winchester, director of the Galveston Island CVB.
Last year saw the opening of two new hotels, the 125-room Four Points by Sheraton, with 1,800 square feet of meeting space, and a 60-room Country Inn & Suites. The most visible Ike legacy was the damaged Flagship Hotel—the only hotel on a pier. Landry’s Restaurants is demolishing it and plans to open an entertainment and amusement park on the site in mid-2012.
Houston
Houston, the country’s fourth-largest city, continues to add to its rejuvenated downtown convention core.
"More than $500 million has been invested in the past three years to make our convention package more competitive," says Greg Ortale, CEO of the Greater Houston CVB. "We need planners to experience our product. Once they do, they love it."
Fronting the George R. Brown Convention Center is the new 12-acre Discovery Green Park, which has event space. Adjoining it is Houston Pavilions, a new four-block entertainment district anchored by the House of Blues and Lucky Strike Lanes.
Opening March 15, the new Embassy Suites Houston-Downtown will bring an additional 262 suites and 6,000 square feet of meeting space to the convention center area.
"Customers are still reticent to commit and are delaying decisions until the last possible moment. We now have a number of groups in tentative mode, but there are signs of hope," Ortale says, adding that the city is getting traction in the international market and several 2010 events had increased attendance.
Beaumont
Beaumont will open a new downtown event center in July. Replacing the Harvest Club destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008, the Beaumont Event Center will include a 16,875-square-foot arena and a room accommodating 500 for banquets, and will overlook a park that can take events for 5,000.
Other new facilities include the Beaumont ISD Natatorium, an eight-lane pool complex with event space, and the 9,000-square-foot Compro Event Center.
"We were down a bit last year from 2009, but group business looks good," says Freddie Willard, Beaumont CVB sales director. "We have lots of sporting events and tournaments and a couple citywide events on the books. I’ve booked quite a few meetings six months out that I normally book at least a year out,"
MISSISSIPPI
Mississippi Gulf Coast
With 26 miles beaches of beaches, the coast now boasts a larger Mississippi Coast Coliseum & Convention Center in Biloxi, expanded and renovated to the tune of $118 million.
A grand reopening was held last August after it was fully open and remodeled. It was expanded from 180,000 to 413,000 square feet of space and can now accommodate groups of up to 6,000.
"Bookings have been good. We have first-class hotels, the cuisine and restaurants—more than 300 of them—of a tier-one city, and world-class museums and golf courses," says Bill Holmes, the facility’s executive director, adding that authorities are now negotiating with developers to build a 500-room headquarters hotel.
The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art in November opened three of five proposed Frank Gehry-designed buildings, which include event space, on its new campus on Beach Boulevard.
The Mississippi Gulf Coast CVB announced that the coast was open for business last April, and in August the coast’s three counties shared $3 million from BP for promotion. According to Holmes, the spill had little effect "once people had been educated."
ALABAMA
Mobile
Mobile, Alabama’s third-largest city, underwent a downtown waterfront renaissance three years ago around its 317,000-square-foot waterfront Outlaw Convention Center. The restored historic Battle House Hotel reopened as part of a multi-use development and the Renaissance Riverview Plaza center headquarters hotel completed a $64 million major renovation.
"We had a good year. National associations are becoming more important; groups we would not have gotten five years ago," says Stacy Hamilton, Mobile Bay CVB’s vice president of marketing, adding that the oil spill did not affect the city.
Alabama Gulf Coast
Alabama’s Gulf Coast delivers 32 miles of white-sand beaches along a 30,000-acre island encompassing the cities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.
Meetings capacity was boosted less than two years ago with the unveiling of Orange Beach’s Conference Center at The Wharf, which has 27,000 square feet of meeting/exhibit space and banquet seating for 1,500.
"Our beaches were impacted by the oil spill. Both the actual oil impact and public perception resulted in a double-digit decline that could have been much more without the proactive efforts of our entire tourism industry," says Herb Malone, CEO of Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism.
Lodging revenues for May through August were down 41.5 percent from the 2009 period.
To boost business, the "Concerts for the Coast," a free-admission series, was created last fall, financed with funds from BP.
FLORIDA
Pensacola Bay
With new hotels coming on-line, Pensacola began marketing its beach as the "Pensacola Beach Conference Campus" in 2009.
The "campus" has nine hotels, almost 1,000 hotel rooms, 400 condo units and 20,000 square feet of meeting space. Most are within a 10-minute walk of the Hilton Pensacola Beach, which has half the meeting space.
Set to open Feb. 25 is the new 206-room Holiday Inn Pensacola Beach, with 4,515 square feet of meeting space, connected to the Hilton, which is under the same ownership.
According to Ed Schroeder, Visit Pensacola’s director, the destination is expecting one of its best tourism years.
"Unfortunately, the oil spill blunted that momentum," he says. Once reports of the oil spill broke in late April, tourism numbers sharply declined in June, July and August. While area beaches showed little impact from the oil, visitors stayed away."
Visit Pensacola initiated a national television ad campaign focusing on the area’s arts and culture, ecotourism and history.
"The results were positive and drove September lodging revenues up 17 percent over the year before," Schroeder says.
Emerald Coast/Beaches of South Walton
Forty miles to the east is the Emerald Coast of Okaloosa County, which has 24 miles of beaches. In a recent name change, the Emerald Coast Conference Center, which has 35,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, is now the Emerald Coast Convention Center.
According to the Walton County Tourist Development Council, the oil spill impacted the area’s economy.
"The truth is that, while we have had small tar balls and tar flecks wash up on our beaches, they were quickly removed," Dawn Moliterno, council executive director, stated in a year-end report.
Panama City Beach
Panama City Beach, which has more than 27 miles of beaches, offers 21,000 hotel rooms and condo units and 160,000 square feet of meeting space.
The new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport opened last May, bringing in a new carrier, Southwest, with twice daily nonstop flights from Baltimore, Nashville, Orlando and Houston.
"The oil spill occurred just before the height of the summer’s tourist season, which was frustrating because of the high expectations for the new airport," says Dan Rowe, CEO of the Panama City Beach CVB. "There was a decline in tourism traffic largely as a result of a false perception. There were intermittent tar balls for about a week, so the actual impact was very minimal."
The CVB launched the "Summer of Fun" campaign, which included a plethora of free activities, events and concerts.
"Passenger traffic has increased significantly. Lower airfares and expanded service has increased visibility to the meetings market, and we are on pace to have a good year," Rowe says.
Tampa/St. Petersburg
Tampa’s downtown waterfront revitalization has continued with the opening last September of the new 53,000-square-foot Glazer Children’s Museum, which can accommodate 1,500 for gatherings. The new Tampa Museum of Art debuted in February last year and the Tampa Bay History Museum two years ago, both with event space.
"We had a pretty good year in 2010, especially coming off a challenging 2009, with RevPAR gains starting in May, primarily in occupancy," says Alex Kaptzan, convention sales director at Tampa Bay & Company, Tampa’s CVB.
A Shriners group with an estimated 15,000 delegates boosted summer business. Among future bookings gained last year was the Republican National Convention for August 2012.
"Regarding the oil spill we were fortunately somewhat insulated from it here in Tampa. We never saw any oil on our beaches," Kaptzan says.
Punta Gorda/Charlotte Harbor
Punta Gorda ’s downtown waterfront has come a long way since Hurricane Charley devastation in 2004.
The city-owned Harbor Event & Conference Center, opened on the site of its battered civic coliseum in January 2009, offers 43,000 square feet of space, including a 19,500-square-foot multipurpose hall. SMG took over management last year.
According to Sean Doherty, Charlotte Harbor VCB sales and sports marketing manager, the center’s bookings last year were up 62 percent over 2009, despite the fact that leisure travel fell due to oil spill perceptions. Among groups using the center was the Association of National Estuary Programs, which met in November.
"It was an ideal audience. Charlotte Harbor is the state’s second-largest estuary and our prime tourism products revolve around nature and eco-tourism," Doherty says.
Fort Myers
Lee County VCB markets The Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel, an area with more than 39,000 guest rooms, 256,000 square feet of meeting space and such resorts as the Hyatt Coconut Point Resort & Spa, Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa and South Seas Island Resort.
"We have noticed a tic up in the meetings market," says Tamara Pigott, VCB executive director. "We are cautiously optimistic. We suffered from the perceptions of the oil spill. Business was down 10 to 15 percent during the summer months."
The VCB, she adds, conducted an aggressive national television and online summer campaign entitled "Still Pristine" with daily beach commercials shot each morning and aired in the same evening.
The VCB has extended its meetings credit incentive program for new bookings through 2013.
Naples
With 30 miles of beaches and many resorts, most on or near the beaches of Naples and Marco Island, the Greater Naples, Marco Island and Everglades CVB promotes the communities of Collier County.
"The oil spill never directly impacted our area. We suffered through misperception, though; we saw a drop off in inbound inquires for visitation throughout the summer," says JoNell Modys, CVB spokeswoman.
The CVB is launching a new meetings support program called GAP (Group Attendance Push), aimed at aiding groups in promoting attendance. It includes online print ads, e-mail templates, collateral materials, online photography and pre- and post-meeting incentives.
Tony Bartlett has been writing for travel industry publications for over 20 years.
