As Association News went to press, oil had begun to find its way on to some beaches in four states that face the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the April 20 BP oil disaster. Many beaches, though, remained untouched.

However, the impact on the travel industry in the Gulf region—because of the perception that more of the area has been affected—has been severe and, in some cases, devastating.

Research firm The Knowland Group, headquartered in Salisbury, Maryland, surveyed the region’s hoteliers in mid-June and found that 60 percent had suffered group booking cancellations because of the perception that beaches were tainted and the region’s seafood inedible. That number was up from 42 percent who said the same thing in a survey two weeks earlier, and up from 35 percent whose response was the same a month earlier.

Kelly Shultz, vice-president of communications for the New Orleans
Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau, called it a “battle of perception” as the travel and tourism industry in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi fight to get the true picture of the region before the public’s eyes.