As we all watch the oil pour out in the gulf, many of you have written asking what you can do and how it’s impacting our friends in New Orleans. I asked James, who helped us plan all our activities in New Orleans. He’s going to keep us posted as things develop, but here’s what he said:
Believe it or not, of all of the clients we currently have and had, you are the only one that has asked. And to be honest, I had a feeling if anyone would ask, Sweet would.
It’s a very odd situation because it is coastal right now and the only thing affecting New Orleans itself is the fear — people think New Orleans is covered in oil (like during Katrina when we were allegedly covered in water three years later) so the long-term affects of tourism could be altered. We haven’t experienced any major cancellations yet. I think people are holding out to see what is going to happen, but we’re hoping things will work out.
On the coastal side, it is a completely different story. These are people who for generations, all they’ve done is fish. Fishing is their livelihood, their life and their passion. They have nothing now. The reality is, they may never be able to fish again in their lifetime. The predictions of the devastation to the ecosystem are unknown. For Katrina, the forecast was bleak for the ecosystem, but it actually bounced back pretty quickly. This is sort of a different story. Read the rest of this entry »
