BP's web site describes their efforts to clean-up, investigate, and restore economic strength after the off-shore accident less than two years ago.
"BP is working to foster economic restoration throughout the Gulf Coast, with special emphasis on two of the region’s most impacted industries: tourism and seafood
With beach closures and the closing of fishing waters in the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon incident had a dramatic impact on the economy of the Gulf Coast during the summer and autumn of 2010. Even after the well had been killed and no further oil was reaching shore, the region struggled to change public perceptions of the impact of the spill.
Tourism
Throughout the Gulf Coast, we are providing financial support for state tourism promotion efforts. Within weeks of the accident, we had announced block grants of $70 million to help promote tourism and mitigate the economic impact of the oil spill in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. In the autumn of 2010, we further increased our support for tourism in the region by committing an additional $47 million in total to the four states affected.
Each state is using the tourism funds to develop specific marketing programmes that promote their state’s key tourism selling points. In Louisiana, for example, the state is using the BP funds to improve awareness of coastal amenities and the state’s brand as the “Sportsman’s Paradise” by encouraging tourism through charter fishing and nature-based adventures. The funds will also be used to promote tourism in New Orleans and other tourism-related events.
Elsewhere along the coast, state and local tourism officials have used BP funds to sponsor concerts and other special events that have attracted thousands of visitors to impacted cities.
Seafood
We are also working with officials in the region to design programs to test and monitor the safety of seafood and to promote Gulf seafood along the coast and around the country. In Louisiana, for example, BP is providing $18 million over a three-year period for testing of oil, dispersants and other spill-related impacts on seafood and is funding a three-year, $13-million fishery-resource monitoring plan to study the effects of the oil spill on the state’s fisheries resources.
Promoting Gulf seafood
BP is working with state and local organizations to promote Gulf seafood. For example, more than 290 restaurants throughout the Gulf Coast and around the country supported “America Night Out for Gulf Seafood” in December 2010, serving their favourite seafood dishes and recipes using seafood from the Gulf of Mexico.
In Louisiana, BP is providing $30 million over a three-year period to the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation for the marketing of Louisiana gulf seafood. Louisiana’s Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board will manage the funding."
I swam in the gulf 6 months after the spill and no oil remnants were seen or felt. The economic impact from fear and hate (emotion) seemed to be of higher impact on society than the actual environmental impact. There is no doubt the accident hurt the stock value of BP in the US, which indirectly benefited the competitors of BP.
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Location:Gulf Shores, MS
