US President Barack Obama yesterday implored Americans to visit the beaches of the southern gulf coast, as the lucrative tourism industry fears a hammering over the BP oil disaster.
"There's still a lot of opportunity for visitors to come down here. There are a lot of beaches that have not been affected and will not be affected," Mr Obama said, at the start of a two-day trip to the region.
"If people want to help, the best way to help is to come down here and visit."
The three states Mr Obama is visiting on his two-day trip, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida each have tourism industries overshadowed by the disaster, and are threatened by a massive oil slick spawned by a ruptured undersea well.
Some Louisiana wetlands and beaches have already suffered from a thick soup of oil that has washed ashore, killing sea life and birds.
Any large-scale fall-off in tourism numbers would reap a heavy economic price in a region also suffering a devastating hit to its fishing and shrimping industry, with large sectors of the ocean closed to trawlers.
Mr Obama was getting a first hand look later yesterday at Alabama's stunning white sands, which state officials fear could be blackened by oil, and are calling for an all out effort to protect the state's coast line.
Near a staging facility which deploys equipment used in the disaster mitigation effort that Mr Obama will visit, booms used to stop oil leaking into wetlands and inland waters could be seen in estuaries and inlets.
Mr Obama spoke briefly to reporters after getting a briefing on the latest efforts to limit the scope of the oil disaster from local officials and the top US official dealing with the operation Admiral Thad Allen.
Meanwhile BP shares plunged more then 10 per cent yesterday as investors fretted over the spiralling cost of the Gulf Mexico oil spill crisis and the future of the group's shareholder dividend, dealers said.
In late afternoon trade, BP tumbled to 351 pence amid mounting pressure from US President Barack Obama over the group's handling of the worst-ever environmental disaster in the history of the US.
Reports have suggested that BP will bow to massive US pressure and decide to suspend dividend payments as its potential liability over the oil spill soars.
BP directors, meanwhile, met in London to discuss whether to suspend the dividend after the embattled company said the cost of sorting out the disaster had jumped to about $1.6 billion (€1.3 billion).
"The shares dropped to a low of 351 pence, a 41-pence plunge, which suggests that some investment firms are fearing that the dividend will be scrapped," said Rajesh Patel, head trader at financial betting firm Spread Co.
"Obama is demanding an escrow fund be set up to cover the clean-up costs and their latest proposal to cap the leak has no guarantee of succeeding either."
US officials on Sunday had demanded that BP set up a special fund to cover claims for damage done by the spill.
"BP's board are discussing what to do with their dividend this afternoon and it is a massively important decision for investors whatever they decide," Mr Patel said.