By Associated Press
Gulf Shores, AL – Officials on the Alabama Gulf are preparing for Memorial Day and a higher visitors turnout for this summer over last year.
Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau President Herb Malone says national polling suggests that people still plan summer trips, but will not spend freely. He says that strategy favors the Alabama coast's family atmosphere.
Ed Evans, general manager of The Beach Club, says the Fort Morgan resort has booked almost all of its 330 condo units for the long weekend, but did so only recently.
Malone spoke Tuesday to about 250 representatives of the beach's tourism trade, hoping to improve over 2008 when the start of summer saw $4-a-gallon gasoline.