Tourists return and BP goes to court

Tourists are returning to the Gulf beaches a year after the British Petroleum oil leak was capped. In light of this, BP has petitioned the court to lower its damages settlement. Others, however, think reports of a tourism growth are definitely not correct. Resource for this article - Rise in gulf tourism prompts BP to ask for discount by Newsytype.com.

The beaches were vacant

The Gulf of Mexico depends heavily on tourism. There quite much was not any tourism last year. When British Petroleum's oil drilling rig exploded and killed 11 men in April, 2010, nobody wanted to hit the beaches anymore. The oil flowed into the ocean for three months until it was successfully capped.

Back with tourism

This year, reports claim the area is enjoying a rebound in tourism. Getaway 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."

Trying to get claim lowered

As reported by BP, this means the oil spill didn't make that much of a difference. Tourism was not affected as much as every person makes it out to seem. On Friday, BP files a request in court. It wanted the damages agreement to be lowered. The claim said 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 agreement formula has been something the company doesn't like. Gulf Coast Says Facility's Kenneth R. Feinberg developed the formula. The agreement was double the 2010 estimated losses with it. BP doesn't think it is a fair or accurate formula. The "future factor" isn't estimated correctly.

Reports may be inflated

A few owners don't see it though. They claim there hasn't been a rebound. The spill is still affecting some companies, several suggest. The good reports seem more than what they are because those who do the reports want tourism to be lured back.

All because of what BP has done

Lots of the rebound can be attributed to BP. The company did a large media campaign. 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

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