Gustav affecting Gulf of Mexico tourism

For the beaches along the Florida panhandle on the Gulf of Mexico, the summer season is getting mixed reviews from local business owners.

That’s also how the executive director of the coastal area’s Bay County Tourist Development Council, Dan Rowe, talked about the summer of 2008 this past Thursday, just before the beginning of the long Labor Day holiday weekend.

Tourism during the Labor Day weekend of last year was not robust, and coming up to this year’s holiday has area businesses waiting for visitors but also watching the skies over the Gulf, wondering if the developing tropical storm Gustav will prove to be a major problem for the area, or a false alarm like recent tropical storm Fay.

Rowe has reported that some hotels and resorts in Panama City Beach, Florida, are reporting cancellations, but that a good number of tourists are still expected to be in town for the long weekend, which is typically the coastal resort’s third-busiest holiday weekend of the year.

“I think we will still get a good influx of folks, but it’s not going to be a record-setting Labor Day,” the tourist council director predicted.

With Gustav’s arrival in the Gulf area this weekend, state officials in Florida are warning local residents and visiting tourists of the potential for rip currents, heavy rains and strong winds.

“We’re urging all beach-goers and mariners to heed warnings from local authorities and lifeguards during the Labor Day Weekend,” the director of the Division of Emergency Management, Craig Fugate, stated in a news release.

www.pcbeach.org