Spill brings good news, for now

David Wells could be one of the few Gulf Coast business owners to see a boost in business because of the oil spill that's still hundreds of miles away, although he worries the surge could be the beginning of the end for his company.

Wells runs Sarasota-based Almost Heaven Kayak Adventures, a guided tour and kayak rental company. Tour bookings in May and June are up 30% year-over-year, says Wells, who believes the jump comes from two segments: People who cancelled trips in the Florida Panhandle and Alabama and people who planned a trip in August or September, but have decided to move it up.

“People realize this could be it,” Wells tells Coffee Talk. “They know we could lose [the Gulf] for a while.”

Wells recently took three separate Tampa-based TV news crews into the nooks and inlets of the Sarasota and Manatee county waterways, so they could get footage for a before and after story if the spill reaches the shores.

Still, Wells has lost some business due to the spill. Two companies, one from Germany and one from England, canceled corporate tours scheduled for August. Says Wells: “They just don't know what things will look like then.”

Moreover, Wells says the increase in business, while nice, could be a temporary reprieve from the storm to come. For perspective, Wells says the periods after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 were difficult for the 10-year-old company, but no one predicted the Gulf would be transformed from those events.

“If the spill is bad enough and lasts long enough,” says Wells, “we could be talking about us going out of business.”