GALVESTON, Texas—Galveston’s tar ball clean-up effort includes cleaning up any misconceptions that might damage the island’s flourishing tourism business this summer.
On Tuesday, the Galveston Convention and Visitors Bureau began posting tar ball updates on Galveston.com. On Wednesday, the website posted a second video message—this one from Mayor Joe Jaworski himself.
"I want to assure you that the small amount of tar balls were immediately removed," he said. "And all 32 miles of Galveston’s beaches are clean, safe and open for your enjoyment."
Website traffic and anecdotal evidence from Galveston business owners indicates that the island economy is benefitting from tourists avoiding the beaches of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, which have been directly impacted by oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
"And we don’t want to lose any of those visitors at this critical moment," said Galveston Convention and Visitors Bureau Public Relations Manager RoShelle Gaskins. "Our summer season needs to continue to be a successful one so we need to get the word out that our beaches are safe clean and open."
Through daily updates at Galveston.com, the Convention and Visitor Bureau’s Facebook page, Twitter, and with increased Internet advertising, city leaders decided to take proactive measures to counter any PR damage the news of sporadic deposits of tar balls might bring.
The message worked for Dave Dyess and Marie Stephens, who enjoyed their third day in Galveston Wednesday. They made the road trip from Omaha, Nebraska knowing Galveston’s beaches were cleaner than the beaches farther east.
"Did all the research on the Internet and you looked like a good place to come," said Dyess. "So here we are and we’ve had a great time."
Tourism officials, city leaders and business owners hope those great times remain oil-free and last all summer long.
