BP (NYSE:BP) Spill Didn't Stop Florida Tourism from Growing

Data from "Visit Florida," the official tourism marketing agency of the state, over 20.8 million visitors came to Florida in the second quarter, surpassing last year's numbers, even with the BP (NYSE:BP) oil spill.

Last year in the same period 20.1 million tourists came to visit the state, 3.5 percent less than this year in the same period.

So even with all the hysteria surrounding alleged losses, it is discovered that fear drove the media reporting, and not the facts, which reveal people understood the BP spill wasn't having an effect on Florida beaches.

Even so, BP provided grants of over $82 million for the state to spend on advertising letting people know beaches were clean and able to be used.

In the first half of 2010, major Florida counties such as Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach all experienced growth in hotel occupancy, while in the case of Miami-Dade, they were even able to increase the room rates as well.

BP (NYSE:BP) Oil Still Keeping People From Eating Seafood

People remain skeptical that the seafood harvested from the Gulf of Mexico, after the BP (NYSE:BP) oil spill, is safe to eat, with 54 percent not convinced it's completely safe yet.

So far tests have shown seafood from the area are devoid of oil, but some believe that all the areas affected haven't been tested yet, and so think there's still risk there.

This, along with almost the same percentage, 55 percent, don't think the beaches are safe for swimming and visiting either, bad news for the tourism industry which has been hit hard, but will be compensated, along with other industries, from the BP compensation fund, scheduled to launch on August 23.

Nothing other than time will change these concerns and attitudes, and probably on a weekly basis these numbers will change consistently to the positive.

The above figures were from an AP poll.