A year after the oil spill and BP is still working on making things right, financially.

The seven counties in the panhandle that make up the Northwest Florida Tourism Council will have direct access to the three-year, $30-million grant.

The money is to be used for marketing purposes.  This most recent contribution sets the total given to the state of Florida by BP at $82-million.  Most of the money has been for tourism, seafood testing and for marketing.

Advertising campaigns have helped bring tourism back to areas hard hit by the oil crisis but also in areas like Jacksonville. 

Lyndsay Rossman with Visit Jacksonville says they had initially requested money from BP after they saw a considerable drop in tourism.  Several surveys at the time showed that tourists from out-of-state were not aware of where Jacksonville was in relation to the oil spill and assumed it was affected somehow.

Jacksonville never got a check from BP but Rossman says we have in a year rebounded substantially.  She says their own advertising campaign launched in New York City and other parts of the country and has helped attract visitors.  When asked if we needed the money to offset what happened a year ago Rossman says, “Well, we’re not looking for anything now and we’ve made up the ground that we lost.”