Oct. 19--PANAMA CITY BEACH -- Beach tourism officials remained opposed this week to new offshore drilling despite the two presidential candidates, and national economic conditions, inching it closer to reality.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain has made his strong support for drilling a centerpiece of his energy policy, and even Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama recently has softened his opposition.

Dan Rowe, executive director of the Bay County Tourist Development Council, told a combined board meeting of the TDC and Panama City Beach Conventions & Visitors Bureau that Florida's tourism industry might have to bow to political and economic reality and revisit the matter.

Rowe returned from a recent Destin summit organized by The Florida Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus armed with a current debate that might make the issue less straightforward than simply sugar-white sands versus oil spills.

Consider:

Tourism might be the fuel that runs the Beach economy, but tourists hit by soaring pump prices have to get here.

Releasing oil companies to drill offshore could reap up to $7 billion for the state's general coffers, part of which could go into beach renourishment and tourist promotion.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist already has reversed his opposition to offshore drilling.

Congress last month let expire a 26-year-old moratorium on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

"We have to take this issue very seriously," Rowe said Thursday. "We have to be armed with all the pros and cons."

Another wrinkle, he said, is an agreement in place since 1983 called the Military Mission Line, which restricts drilling east of Pensacola because of military flight training.

"Our coast is not at immediate risk," Rowe said. "But this is a very fluid issue."

Although TDC/CVB board members took no action to reverse their previous opposition to drilling, they directed Rowe to continue monitoring the shifting sands of the debate.

The Offshore Oil Drilling Summit drew about 65 representatives from the state's tourism industry to listen to oil company representatives, who talked of increased safety, and environmentalist, who spoke of spill dangers.

"This is an important issue because the tourism industry would bear the brunt of anything that happens," Rowe said, including the collapse of beach tourism from the effects of an oil spill, or the fight for any new state revenue.

The Florida Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus had not yet decided to take an official stand on opening up new Florida areas for drilling, Rowe said.

But politically, if drilling begins to look inevitable, the price of the industry's support could be an infusion of new funds for beach renourishment projects and tourist promotion efforts, he said.

"We may be compelled to revisit this issue," Rowe said. "It's a big issue, and you have to look at it real hard."

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