Oil Spill takes Toll on Florida Tourism

By Christina Leavenworth

The parking lots are empty and hardly anyone is sitting on the bar stools at local restaurants. It's not what you would normally see on a Thursday before the Fourth of July. Adam Shriver flew here all the way from Pennsylvania. The main reason was to visit family, but he says if they weren't here, the trip would have been canceled.

"We wouldn't have come down. There's other stuff to do. We come down for the beach cause we don't have a beach in Pennsylvania. We come down to enjoy water, go out and look for seashells, all that," said Shriver.

It's easy to understand why people are shying away, there's equipment everywhere, and not too many people would want to lay out on oil covered beaches.

"You can't really go out to beach with all this oil on it. You don't want your kids swimming in oily water and getting that all over them," Shriver added.

Nathan Wheeler works at the Dock Bar. He not only sees an empty beach but he feels it in his pockets. He says what would normally be their biggest weekend of the year feels slower than it is in January.

"Its our biggest weekend, you know, Fourth of July, Blue Angels after that. It's a big finale for our season," said Wheeler.

But this summer, finale hardly describes the business they'll bring in this weekend.

"It's pretty depressing. We had a long winter already this year, gearing up for great summer, but feel back in winter mode already," added Wheeler.

Wheeler say if business doesn't pick up, a lot of people who work in restaurants will be forced to find new jobs soon.

The Hilton and the Holiday Inn on the beach were fully booked last year. Now, about 25 percent of the rooms are available.