In the USA Today Article, “Tourism Returning a Year After the Gulf Oil Spill," Charisse Jones discusses the economic and environmental impacts the oil spill has had on tourism along the Gulf coast. According to Jones, rental reservations along the Gulf are still down 25% from last year. But with effort, tourism is slowly beginning to come back in the area. This is in part by the marketing campaigns that have been put in affect by local officials and BP. However, other factors still keeping tourism at bay include rising gasoline prices and the overall economy.
While the BP oil spill has had devastating consequences to the Gulf that have ultimately led to a serious decline in tourism, I agree with Jones that other factors are only going to contribute to the tourism decline. I think that while after a year many people are beginning to get over their fear of the oil spill, contributing economic factors are going to continue to keep tourism down worldwide. In the past few months, gas prices have skyrocketed making travel drastically more expensive. Many people who would transport to the Gulf by car will most likely become more hesitant to do so as the prices continue to rise through the summer.
