BP money buys sports towels, holiday lights, jingles

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. -- Sports towels and fleece blankets. A poker tournament. A $1 million Christmas display. A prom for senior citizens. BP gas card giveaways. A ?most deserving mom? contest. And advertising, lots of advertising.

Florida Panhandle officials made the mix of eyebrow-raising purchases with $30 million BP gave them earlier this year to help tourism recover from 2010?s disastrous Gulf oil spill.

The money allowed seven area tourism bureaus to try promotions they could never have afforded otherwise, and it has propelled the Panhandle?s visitor counts to record numbers this year following a disastrous season right after the spill. The question now is what happens when the BP money dries up, most likely in April. The grants doubled and tripled the tourism-promotion budgets in these Panhandle counties, and officials worry the boost in visitors may prove fleeting.

ASSOCIATED PRESS/Panama City Beach, Romona Robbins A high-definition animated light show projects on the Sterling Reef in Panama City Beach, Fla. In the foreground of the Sterling Reef is the Christmas Tree Forrest and Ice Palace. Florida Panhandle officials made the mix of eyebrow-raising purchases with $30 million BP gave them earlier this year to help tourism recover from 2010?s disastrous Gulf oil spill.

Will numbers stay up?

?It is one thing to have your numbers go up when a tremendous amount of money is being put, not only in our economy, but in all of north Florida,? said Curt Blair, executive director of the Franklin County Tourist Development Council. ?We will see after April whether part of this was a real recovery ? or if we see fall-off. ? Whether we?ve done that or if we?ve just propped up the market.?

BP announced the $30 million tourism grants in April. Though the agreement for the $30 million doesn?t prevent Florida from pursuing any claims against BP or others, officials there decided a week later not to join other Gulf states in a lawsuit against Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig at the heart of the spill.

Florida?s tourism spending spree isn?t the first time that BP money has allowed government officials to snag items from their wish lists.

Separately, BP had already poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the four Gulf states in the months after the oil spill -- with few strings attached. The Associated Press documented earlier this year how some of the $754 million given to local governments had been spent on Tasers, SUVs and pick-up trucks, rock concerts, an iPad and other items with no direct connection to the oil spill.

In all, BP has given $150 million to Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi for tourism promotion since the oil spill, with the Sunshine State getting the lion?s share -- $62 million.

Attention grabbers

Source: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/12/31/3659007/bp-money-buys-sports-towels-holiday.html

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