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A year after the BP oil spill was stopped tourism is up in the Gulf of Mexico. Knowing that, BP went to court, saying its damages agreement should be lowered. Others, however, think reports of a tourism growth are far from correct. Article source - Rise in gulf tourism prompts BP to ask for discount by Newsytype.com.

The beaches were vacant

Last year the tourism industry, which the Gulf of Mexico area depends on economically, was almost non-existent. When British Petroleum's oil drilling rig exploded and killed 11 men in April, 2010, nobody wanted to hit beaches anymore. The oil flowed to the ocean for three months until it was successfully capped.

Back with tourism

Tourism in the area has not been too bad. Reports show a nice reversal. Escape rentals were at 100 percent occupancy on July 4th weekend. USA Today Travel reported "tourists are back digging their toes into white sand beaches and scarfing down fried shrimp at restaurants along the Gulf of Mexico."

Getting a lower claim

British Petroleum believes that the tourism industry was not impacted as much as it seems by the oil leak. Last Friday, the company filed a request for the court to reduce its damages settlement. The legal court filing claimed that "there is no basis to assume that claimants, with very limited exceptions, will incur a future loss related to the spill."

The Gulf oil spill settlement formula has been something the business doesn't like. Double the estimated 2010 losses were what the settlement was with the formula developed by Gulf Coast Says Facility's Kenneth R. Feinberg. British Petroleum doesn't think it is a fair or correct formula. The "future factor" is not estimated correctly.

Tourism reports not correct

Some business owners, however, claim they are not feeling the tourism rebound. Good reports are coming from business owners and travel industry that wants tourists to make their way back, some think, while several companies still feel the heat from the spill.

Reversal from BP

Tourism promotion has been done by British Petroleum a lot which is part of how the rebound came about. Friday, Seeking Alpha investment site asked, "Did BP agree to spend tens of millions of dollars to aggressively advertise travel in the Gulf states in order to avoid even larger court settlements down the road?"

Independent News' Rick Outzen has a blog. On it, he summed up the Gulf region ideas:

"Our state and local leaders have been so quick to declare that the beaches, seafood and Gulf Coast are doing fine that we may have screwed up the chances of the remaining outstanding BP oil spill claims to be paid."

Citations

USA Today Travel

travel.usatoday.com/destinations/dispatches/post/2010/10/six-months-after-bp-oil-spill-gulf-tourism-is-on-the-mend/128032/1

New York Times

nytimes.com/2011/07/16/us/16gulf.html?_r=1&hp

Seeking Alpha

seekingalpha.com/currents/post/82553