Ala. coast comes back … and then some

• By CHAD HEBERT
• Advocate Marketing Staff
• Published: Apr 27, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Call it a comeback. Add up the numbers, and you can call it a victory.

The wake of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 has settled along the Alabama Gulf Coast, and the area has rebounded in a big way.

And that rebound has come in an abundance of tourists visiting the area.

“We had a record year in 2007,” said Herb Malone, president/CEO of the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau.

A record number of tourists resulted in increased lodging rentals and retail sales during 2007. The number of visitors has gradually increased since Ivan and should continue to grow this year, Malone said.

According to research, the Alabama Gulf Coast welcomed 549,570 visitors in the summer of 2007. That amounts to an 8.8 percent increase from the summer of 2006.

Want to catch up with someone you know while touring the coast? That idea may not be so far-fetched, considering that Baton Rouge was a top-10 feeder market during summer 2007.

With the ongoing rise in the number of tourist visits has come a rise in new businesses and attractions along the coast.

The biggest new thing in the area, Malone said, is The Wharf, an ever-growing array of retail shops, a marina and an amphitheater in Orange Beach.

The area, which opened in 2006, features the biggest Ferris wheel in the southeast. The Wharf also continues to host concerts, with acts such as country music singer Alan Jackson, who played there this year.

But the newest feature is a restaurant and art gallery by marine artist and conservationist Guy Harvey.

“The name Guy Harvey is well-known in the sport fishing world,” Malone said.

More restaurants and hotels are opening in the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area. Condominiums are also spanning the sky, with more being built primarily on the beachfront.