As reported by Travelmole, "There’s a bright spot amid the darkening, spreading muck in the Gulf of Mexico. Despite the oil slick’s negative impact on tourism, passengers, lots of them, are flying into Florida’s newest airport," Florida Beaches Airport (ECP), an international airport north of Panama City Beach, Florida, near West Bay. It opened May 23.
"Southwest offers eight daily flights from Houston, Orlando, Baltimore and Nashville. Delta offers eight flights from Atlanta and three from Memphis on Delta Connection."
"The airport waived landing fees for both carriers for the first 12 months, 'but they have to maintain service for that time period,' Curtis said." However, there are multiple other airports in the FL, MS, AB beach region, and overall holte and package bookings have been down in the region. "The president touted the region’s beaches and crab cakes, even while citing a Mississippi hotel owner’s lament of a 40% falloff in bookings." The problem is not so much cancelations as it is the downbeat rate of new bookings. The oil ddisaster has covered a portion of the year, so far, in which there would normally more bookings being made than stays being completed.
"Numerous hotels, travel sites and destinations now offer 'clean-beach guarantee' programs that include refunds or credits for future vacations. ... Weeks ago, Key West, miles from the nearest tar ball, was the first destination in the state to launch a clean-beach guarantee. That was followed by a feature added to www.fla-keys.com on June 14 designed to correct Gulf spill misconceptions."
For the rest of the article, see http://www.travelweekly.com/article3_ektid216374.aspx
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