Hard to say whether Pensacola, Gulf Shores and Panama City Beach need to be envied or pitied. On the one hand, they’ve been harrassed by tar balls and oil slicks.

But on the other hand, they just had a super weekend filled with celebs and spectacular events that drew record crowds.

The July 11 free Jimmy Buffett concert on the beach at Gulf Shores drew 25,000 raving parrotheads who filled up the hotels and restaurants.

Although CMT had given away 37,000 free tickets for the concert originally scheduled for July 1, the concert had to be postponed due to a hurricane.

Even so, 25,000 people packing it in over the weekend at an oilspill impacted beach community is extraordinary.

Even more good news for Alabama (and Gulf Shores in particular) is that the concert was paid for with BP funds, and Alabama Tourism has decided to hold more free concerts in the same spot - also paid for by BP. Faith Hill has agreed to do the next one for free.

For Panama City Beach, the good news came in the form of an endorsement and personal visit by First Lady Michelle Obama on July 12.

The First Lady talked to the local bigwigs, eat a chocolate hurricane at the Pink Pelican Ice Cream Bar, and said that “this is a wonderful place to visit.”

As for Pensacola, huge crowds came in to watch the Blue Angels at NAS Pensacola perform their flying maneuvers on July 10. Officials estimate that Pensacola tourism businesses raked in $25 million over the weekend.

If the Gulf Coast can keep up this steady drumbeat of celebrities and high-wattage events, maybe no one will notice the oil, until it goes away eventually.

Photo credits (from left) - 1, 2, 3

Posted on July 13th, 2010 by PLing
Filed under: Travel News