BP (NYSE:BP) Paying Louisiana $218 Million for Oil Spill Damage

BP (NYSE:BP) and Louisiana have reached an agreement for the oil giant to pay $218 million to the state for a variety of consequences related to the Gulf oil spill.

Among the uses the money will be put toward will be the ongoing testing of seafood, tourism, and the restoration of the Louisiana coast.

More than half of the money will be used to help restore the Louisiana coastline, with $140 targeted toward that project. Included in the restoration will be the barrier islands.

For the tourism industry, using funds to market the Gulf region has proven successful in Florida, and should work well for Louisiana too.

While extensive testing on seafood has shown the resource is completely clean from oil and corexit, ongoing tests will reinforce that and hopefully cause people to have confidence in the resource.

The seafood program will receive $48 million and the state Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism the remaining $30 million.

Gulf Tourism Rebounds after BP (NYSE:BP) Oil Spill

Contrary to some presumptive media reports, many areas in the Gulf region didn't suffer a tourism disaster as a result of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, in some cases because of marketing money provided by BP (NYSE:BP), as in Florida, tourism was up.

One of the major attractions in the region, New Orleans, said they had their best year since Katrina.

When asked about areas in Florida, reports the St. Petersburg Times said a number of respondents believed the beaches were still stained by oil, when in many cases no oil came anywhere near them.

The conclusion by some was they would probably go somewhere else for their next vacation. But April and June, across the overall state, Florida tourism was up by 3.4 percent.

There will always be mixed responses like this concerning disasters, but the reality is many areas are doing very well, no matter what responses are, and it remains to be seen if people even think much about BP and oil when making vacation plans next year.

Louisiana Wants Another $75 Million from BP (NYSE:BP)

BP (NYSE:BP) is being asked to pay another $75 million from Louisiana for their tourism industry. BP has already paid out $15 billion to that end.

Louisiana Lt. Gov. Scott Angelle wrote in a letter to BP's general manager of governmental and public affairs, Larry Thomas, saying after a perception study, it was found that the state was still being "constrained by negative national perception."

The perception he was talking about was in relationship to tourism and seafood from the state as it is allegedly perceived to be affected by the oil spill in the Gulf.

Angelle claims the two brands are "inextricably linked," and so both need to be mitigated.

These so-called negative perceptions need to more money to battle, according to Angelle.