From what I been hearing the normal winter folks are not coming to Destin this year thanks to the all mighty f**k up caused by our greedy sons of *****es at the gas compaies (Did you know they made a $3 million dollars during hurricane season?)

Anyhow if any of you want to come down to Destin (or better yet..Oaklossia Island and save on some money) Now is a good time. THe forecast is for the mid 60s even though the water is cold theres's still plenty of stuff to do + your helping our crappy economy improve. Just be warned there is still no gas in the fort walton beach area why beats the crap out of me.

Rob

Gas prices nationwide are back down to where they were about a year ago. Long before anyone guessed that 2005 would be a massive storm/disaster year.

Some may be staying away with the mistaken assumption that the Emerald Coast got hit (not true), but don't blame gas prices or the oil companies.

People will spend an extra $50 for gas to go on vacation if the prices are high (and right now they are not). And if tourism is down ... that means room and condo prices are lower ... making it even easier to justify a few extra bucks in gas (if that were the case).

I will say this: It certainly is a good time for the smart traveler to spend some time on the Emerald Coast. If tourism is down, I imagine condo and hotel rents are down. And since gas prices and airfare are normal ... no reason not to.

Take a look at our forecast.. need I say more?

http://tinyurl.com/dukr3

I hope to see more tourists down here in the future. Fort Walton Beach is wide open for business

Rob

It is the middle of winter. Regardless of temps, people just don't hit your area on a massive basis in winter. Except for snowbirds, no one is going anywhere for the next few weeks. If the snowbird tourism is way down this time of year, then you have a problem. If March and April come around and numbers are down, then you have a problem.

But the posts in this thread were about tourism not long after the record setting storm season. To compare winter tourism with that is apples and oranges.

By April, last year will be forgotten and the Emerald Coast will be jammed. How do I know? Scout out advance airfares for the next three months into VPS and PFN. If advance tourism predictions were down, airfares would be down. They aren't.

Until and unless the next major storm strikes the Gulf (let's hope not), 2006 will be a record tourism year for your area. People have short memories of the bad, and long memories of the good.

I like your forecast, Ted! Happy New Year!