Gulf Tourism Depends on a Healthy Gulf
July 8, 2013
Elizabeth Skree, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, eskree@edf.org
Molly Moore, Sanderson Strategies Group, 202.682.3700, molly@sandersonstrategies.com
Part
I: Press release
Part
II: Comments from participants in release of study
Part
III: Key report findings for the Gulf region
Part
I: Press release
PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGOED UNTIL 10:00
A.M., TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2013
(New
Orleans—July 9, 2013) The coastal environment of the Gulf of Mexico supports a
$19 billion annual wildlife tourism industry that is highly dependent on
critical investments in coastal environmental restoration, according to a
survey released today by Datu Research
LLC.
“Wildlife
Tourism and the Gulf Coast Economy” concludes that wildlife tourism is
extremely valuable to the Gulf Coast economy and relies heavily on the health
of the endangered Gulf Coast ecosystem in the five states of Louisiana,
Florida,
Texas,
Alabama
and Mississippi.
Wildlife tourism includes recreational fishing, hunting and wildlife watching.
Key
findings of the report show that wildlife tourism:
·
Generates
more than $19 billion in annual spending.
·
Attracts
20 million participants annually across the five Gulf Coast states.
·
Delivers
$5.3 billion annually in federal, state and tax revenues.
The
study also found tourism jobs can account for 20-36 percent of all private jobs
in in coastal counties and parishes that are particularly dependent on wildlife
activities. Those 53 counties and parishes have more than 25,000
tourism-related businesses and nearly 500,000 associated jobs.
The
study reported that all forms of tourism generate 2.6 million jobs in the Gulf states,
nearly five times the number of jobs provided by the region’s other three
largest resource-based industries: commercial fishing, oil and gas, and
shipping.
“With
so many outdoor adventure opportunities, tourism is a critical industry to our
coastal parishes,” Louisiana
Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne said. “Sportsman’s Paradise is more than our state’s
nickname. If Louisiana is to remain the Sportsman’s Paradise, we have to ensure
that funds Louisiana receives as a result of the Deepwater Horizon spill are properly and
wisely spent preserving our paradise.”
Lt.
Gov. Dardenne will speak at a press conference Tuesday, July 9, in New Orleans
along with Billy Nungesser, president, Plaquemines Parish; Charlotte Randolph,
president, Lafourche Parish; John F. Young, Jr., president, Jefferson Parish;
Capt. Ryan Lambert, owner of Cajun Fishing Adventures; Mark Romig, president,
New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation; Alon Shaya, executive chef,
Domenica, Besh Restaurant Group and Marcy Lowe, president, Datu Research LLC.
The
study’s findings underscore the direct connection between the health of the
ecosystem and the economic health of the Gulf region and the urgency for using
the pending influx of monies from the RESTORE Act and other payments resulting
from the 2010 Deepwater
Horizon oil spill to properly and effectively restore the fragile
Gulf Coast ecosystems.
“The
conservation solutions that last are the ones that make economic sense and
consider the needs of local communities,” said Scott Burns, director of the
environment program at the Walton
Family Foundation, which helped fund the survey. “This study connects the
dots between a healthy Gulf environment, abundant wildlife and the good jobs
that depend on tourism. This report adds to the growing evidence that investing
in real restoration in the Gulf is the best way to create jobs and build
economic prosperity across the region.”
Datu
Research LLC is an economic research firm whose principals were part of the Duke University Center on Globalization,
Governance & Competitiveness. They have previously released three
analyses of supply chains associated with the work of coastal restoration,
showing that more than 400
businesses in 36 states would benefit from such work.
This
study was funded by Environmental Defense Fund
with support from the Walton
Family Foundation.
Part
II: Supporting comments
Comments from
participants in release of study: Wildlife Tourism and the Gulf Coast Economy
John Young,
president, Jefferson Parish: “This study further supports the direct
link between a healthy coastal environment and a robust economy which depends
on a $19 billion wildlife tourism industry. The well-being and continued growth
of our coastal communities depend on the health of the Gulf, restoring and
strengthening our fragile ecosystems, and promoting a wildlife tourism industry
which can thrive, not only in Jefferson Parish but in all Gulf Coast states.”
Billy Nungesser,
president, Plaquemines Parish: “Plaquemines Parish and
Louisiana are the nation’s premier delta coastline. We are strategically
positioned as the fishing capital of the world, the sportsmen’s paradise state
and the seafood capital of the United States, and these factors which make
Plaquemines and Louisiana unique depend on the health of our coast.”
Michael Hecht,
President & CEO of Greater New Orleans, Inc.: “Tourism
overall, including wildlife tourism, provides 2.6 million jobs across the Gulf
States – and many of these are with small businesses. To protect this vital
economic base, as well as other important coastal industries, we must
prioritize large-scale coastal restoration projects that will ensure a stable
coast and healthy environment.”
Mark Romig,
President of the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation:
“New Orleans attracts the experiential discover type of tourist, one who enjoys
using the city as a base to go out and explore any authentic and unique aspects
of the city and region, including the natural world. For the many businesses in
this region, the need to restore and preserve our coastal wetlands is not
optional; it’s an urgent economic necessity.”
Capt. Ryan
Lambert, owner
of Cajun Fishing Adventures: “I’ve grown up loving and making a
living from the waters of the Louisiana coast and for more than 30 years, my
business has been taking people fishing in those waters. But every year, as I
see places disappearing from the map, I fear I may be part of the last
generation to live off the water.”
Ralph Brennan, President, Ralph
Brennan Restaurant Group: “Family restaurants like mine depend on a
healthy Gulf Coast for the fresh seafood that has made New Orleans the culinary
capital of the United States. The money states are beginning to receive to
repair the damages from the Deepwater Horizon spill are our best – and may be
our last real chance – to reverse decades of mistakes.”
Marcy Lowe, President of Datu Research LLC.:
“This study shows the vital connection between the health of the ecosystem and
the economic health of the Gulf region. Wildlife tourism is a major contributor
to the Gulf Coast economy, but its very survival depends on the restoration of
an endangered and irreplaceable ecosystem.”
Part
III: Key study findings
Report: Wildlife Tourism
and the Gulf Coast Economy
Key findings for the
Gulf region
“Wildlife
Tourism and the Gulf Coast Economy,” a survey produced by Datu Research
LLC, finds that in the five Gulf Coast states:
·
Tourism
generates 2.6 million
jobs, nearly five times the number of jobs created by the
region’s other three largest resource-based industries combined: commercial
fishing, oil and gas, and shipping.
·
In
Gulf Coast coastal counties and parishes where economies are particularly
dependent on tourism, 20-36
percent of all private sector employment is tourism-related.
·
Wildlife
tourism, which includes wildlife watching, recreational fishing and hunting,
generates more than $19
billion in annual spending.
·
Wildlife
tourism generates $5.3
billion annually in federal, state and local tax revenues,
divided roughly equally between local and state tax revenues and federal
revenues. In 2011, Gulf Coast state and local governments received $2.5 billion
and the federal government $2.8 billion from wildlife tourism. Recreational
fishing generates the highest amount of tax revenue at $2.2 billion followed by
$2 billion from wildlife watching and $1.2 billion from hunting.
·
Wildlife
tourism attracts 20
million participants annually across the five Gulf Coast
states. The wildlife tourism industry consists not only of wildlife guide
businesses that directly serve wildlife tourists, but also the lodging and
dining establishments where they eat and sleep.
·
Gulf
Coast tourism – and wildlife tourism in particular – is highly dependent on a
healthy coastal environment.
·
More
than 11,000 lodging and
dining establishments and 1,100 guide and outfitters businesses
create business networks that depend on each other for referrals. In a survey
of over 500 guide and outfitter businesses, about 40 percent of respondents
said clients ask them for hotel recommendations and 55 percent said clients
request restaurant recommendations. Likewise, more than 60 percent of guide
businesses receive clients based on recommendations from hotels and
restaurants.
·
Guide
and outfitting operations represent a strong network of small businesses that
have a large impact on local tourism. More
than 86 percent of these businesses have one to five employees,
and nearly 60 percent host more than 200 visitors per year, with many hosting
several thousand.