Southerners Beware: Oil Spill Ads Coming

If you live in the South you should prepare yourself for a deluge of TV ads featuring the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The AP is reporting today that tourism officials along the coast are asking BP PLC to pay $7.5 million a month for a national ad campaign targeted at overcoming the negative coverage of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The report said the focus will be on casinos, entertainment and family attractions -- not the beaches.

The targeted markets are Atlanta, Birmingham, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Jackson, Miss., Charlotte, Memphis, Nashville and Dallas.

I've never been to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Spent plenty of time in the coastal communities of Alabama and Florida, though, and from a lot of reports from those communities that I've been reading they are having to battle the negative news.

I've seen Facebook postings from Florida resorts showing pictures taken today showing the beautiful beaches and clear water. The state is in full spin mode trying to get the message out that things are all clear there.

I wonder as the weeks go on and we enter the busy summer season if travelers will trust the messages or if they'll just vacation elsewhere. I also wonder if Florida and Alabama will follow suit on the TV ad campaign.

The next few weeks should be interesting to follow.

Planning trips in wake of disasters

This time last week I found myself closely monitoring news of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as we plan a trip to the Florida Panhandle for late June. Now, after spending a weekend in rain-drenched and flooded Middle Tennessee, my travel thoughts also include Nashville.

I don't think I can compare these disasters to the tragedies brought by the terrorism acts of Sept. 11 and the devastation along the Gulf Coast brought by Hurricane Katrina. But in a purely travel sense -- the reason for this blog -- there are similarities.

New York recovered, but it wasn't immediate. Same for New Orleans, although many would argue that city will never be the same.

Considering the Gaylord Opryland Resort is the largest hotel and convention center in Nashville, I think it's safe to assume convention business is questionable for the time being there. The Opryland hotel could be closed for several months. Where will those already scheduled conventions go? If Nashville loses even some of its convention business that will be a major hit to the local economy there.

I read earlier that some of Nashville's attractions could begin reopening this weekend. And with the country music fan festival still scheduled to take place in June, there is hope that a drop in tourism in Nashville will be just a blip.

The Gulf of Mexico is a trickier situation. The oil spill hasn't reached land yet other than some scattered reports in Louisiana. But if or when it does, what will it mean for that area? Some reports have total devastation because of what it could mean for the seafood and travel industries among others.

The sands along the Gulf are still white. But will that change? How long will it take to clean up if the oil does wash ashore?

But maybe it doesn't wash ashore. Maybe as it drifts toward the beaches the booms they've put in place keep the slick back. I've read reports of the oil's putrid smell. When I'm sitting beachside in a couple of months will I still smell the beautiful saltiness blowing in on the breeze or will it be the rank smell of oil? Will I be able to step foot in the waters? Will there be any fresh seafood at all the seafood restaurants? Or will I find myself ordering the chicken nuggets off the kid's menu?

And I can't even begin to wrap my mind around the environmental damage to the marshes along the coast.

Too many questions abound and I don't even know where to begin to look for the answers.

I do recommend, though, if you have planned a trip to the coast for this summer or are thinking about it, don't be too quick to cancel your plans. Be smart and don't join the rush to judgement. Those coastal communities need our tourism dollars.

There are some informative websites out there and I recommend you peruse them. The first stop should be Deepwater Horizon Response. This is a great site with everything related to the cleanup efforts. It has daily updates, pictures and links to state information.

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Nashville: A city in need

Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (Photo courtesy of Tennessean.com)

As a resident of Memphis and someone who was trapped in Middle Tennessee during the weekend's floods (more on that later) the flooding in Nashville is big news for me right now. We've had our own storm damage in Memphis, especially severe flooding in the northern part of the county in Millington.

Downtown Nashville (Photo courtesy of Tennessean.com)

But since this is a travel blog my mind is on Nashville. Maybe you've seen pictures of the damage caused by the high-rising waters in and around the city from last weekend's deluge. A number of that city's attractions have been touched by the waters -- literally. The beautiful grand lobbies of the Opryland Hotel are under water. Some 1,500 visitors were evacuated Sunday night.

Opry Mills Mall with Opryland Hotel in background. Cumberland River in foreground (Photo courtesy of Tennessean.com)

Just imagine for a moment being on a vacation, a business trip or just in the hotel having dinner and suddenly being told you had to leave because of rising waters. 

The nearby Opry Mills Mall reportedly has been flooded, as has downtown Nashville, including the famed Second Avenue and all its clubs, bars and restaurants. Who knows what it will look like when the waters recede. Music Row and the historic Ryan Auditorium, original home of the Grand Ole Opry, are safe. But the current Grand Ole Opry building at Opryland is under water. So is the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

(Photo courtesy of tennessean.com)

Imagine the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, any of the Smithsonian museums in Washington or even smaller venues like Memphis' Stax, the Rock and Soul Museum or Sun Studio being under water.

The Tennessee Titans' stadium was flooded and the downtown arena where the NHL's Predators play saw rising waters.

How to bring this closer to home? Well, it depends on where home is for you. In Memphis, imagine Beale Street being under water. FedExForum's plush lockerrooms gutted. I don't know if Graceland and the Grand Ole Opry building are on the same level, but both are important music treasures to their respective cities. So imagine the first level of Graceland being under water.

New Orleans' French Quarter was also flooded from Hurricane Katrina, although nowhere near the degree to that in Nashville. A visit I made there two years after the fact showed how nicely that area had recovered. Downtown Nashville and the Opryland area will recover as well.

But what will help the recovery happen quicker is if we spend our tourist dollars there. When the mall reopens, shop there. When the hotel opens, visit its spectacular lobbies and buy dessert or dinner at one of its many restaurants. Book a night there. When Second Avenue reopens, have a dance at the Wildhorse Saloon.

In the meantime, if you'd like to help the people of Nashville here are a few resources courtesy of my friend I Love Memphis.

The first place is nashvillest, which lists a lot of great information. 

If you're on Twitter, check out @ericshuff. He's the the social media director for the Tennessean newspaper. 

Hands on Nashville and The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee lists valuable ways we can all do our part to help the Nashville community recover.

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