As if Northwest Florida coastal towns don't have enough problems, they were told earlier this week that the world's largest auto club issued a travel advisory urging its 50 million members to stay away from their beaches because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
But a spokeswoman for the association insisted Wednesday there was no such travel advisory.
There were instead newspaper reports originating from Ohio that attributed the bogus advisory to the association, said Leticia Messam, a spokeswoman for AAA Auto Club South. "Im not sure how it got misconstrued, she said. There's not a travel advisory.
News organizations in Cincinnati and the surrounding area began reporting Monday that AAA had expanded a travel advisory to Northwest Florida. The story was released by WCPO-TV, an ABC affiliate in Cincinnati, advertised by the station on Twitter and published in The Kentucky Post, a now online-only publication in the same E.W. Scripps Co. family with WCPO. The WCPO story can no longer be found at its original link, and has reportedly been updated.
The WCPO story, released at least on its Web site, featured the headline AAA Expands Travel Advisory to Florida Panhandle.
In a sentence lacking attribution, The Kentucky Post story quoted a AAA destination specialist in Deerfield Township as saying that AAA recommends families in search of a new vacation spot head south in Florida.
The Post story reports that people have been emerging from the water with tar balls stuck to them.
Messam said AAA has been circulating clarification messages to its branch offices telling staff that there was no such advisory.
This is the type of scenario the Florida tourism industry, which generates nearly $60 million for the state annually, has been combating in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster that started unleashing hundreds of thousands of gallons into the Gulf of Mexico in late April. The oil still isnt completely under control, although British Petroleum, which leased the rig, maintains it is making progress.
Dawn Moliterno, executive director at the Beaches of South Walton, which promotes Walton Countys tourist destinations, said she had received word Tuesday that tourists were telling at least one hotel about the reported advisory, and she feared visitors would use the news to cancel reservations.
Theyve called and said weve received this advisory from AAA, should we continue our vacation, Moliterno said. And our position is: Absolutely. Our beaches are clean right now."
Tar balls and patties started arriving on Northwest Florida shores Friday, but the areas beaches have been spared the arrival of oil from oil plumes -- even though a light sheen was reported off the Alabama coast near the Florida line. Walton County had tar balls arrive on its beaches Friday and Saturday, but they have been clean ever since, Moliterno said.
The state has received $25 million from BP for an emergency marketing campaign to show that beaches are clean and open for business. Visit Florida, the states public-private marketing corporation, has recently been using the money to produce TV ads directing visitors to its Florida Live Web page, which updates with live photos and videos of Florida beaches to show if they have been impacted by the spill.
Richard Goldman, immediate past chairman of Visit Florida, was appalled to hear about the news reports.
Weve been trying to let everybody know that they need to check facts first and ask good questions, he said.
Reach Alex Tiegen at atiegen@sunshinestatenews.com, or at (561) 329-5389.
