Video: Holiday weekend grim for the Gulf

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2. Transcript of: Holiday weekend grim for the Gulf

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   WILLIAMS: as we mentioned, this was a grim weekend on beaches that are usually packed, affecting a huge region that counts on the money they make right now to get them through the rest of the year. This year oil washing up on the beaches means people are staying away from the beaches. NBC 's Ron Mott is in Pensacola for us tonight. Ron , we were there just a few days ago. Same circumstance. Hardly anybody on the beach.

   RON MOTT reporting: Absolutely, Brian . Good evening to you. You know, there's an old '70s tune that says rainy days and Mondays will always bring you down. Well, some of the businesses on Pensacola Beach and elsewhere have more than just those two things to complain about as we start this week, the single most important week around here for the summer tourist season. On a dreary gray morning, about the only footprints left on Pensacola 's white sand beaches were barely noticeable; and eventually they, too, were swept away. Neither rain nor the lingering threat of oil washing ashore, though, were enough to keep Chris Rivers and his large extended family from New Orleans from changing their vacation plans as so many others have.

   Mr. CHRIS RIVERS: We've been coming here for five years, and we love it out here. The food, the people. Everybody's nice.

   MOTT: Yet business has been anything but nice of late, as Brian discovered firsthand last week.

   WILLIAMS: There should be customers waiting for tables.

   Mr. TIM WALEY: Yes.

   MOTT: Just a single customer in Tim Waley 's Castaway 's restaurant. And today wasn't much better.

   Mr. WALEY: The season is definitely ruined.

   MOTT: What should be a banner week is starting off bust. Realtor Fred Simmons has seen his condo rentals disappear, at least 30 percent cancellations through late last month, he says, with not enough new bookings to replace them.

   Mr. FRED SIMMONS: This time of year we usually make 20 to 30 reservations a day. We're making maybe one to four per day.

   MOTT: Further east on Florida 's coast, summer's in full swing. Still oil free in Sandestin , though even a popular resort there has to lure visitors in.

   Mr. JOHN RUSSELL (Sandestin Resort): Demand has been down a little bit. So it takes good marketing, good customer experience and good values. And we've seen business respond to that.

   MOTT: Back on Pensacola Beach , the Rivers family is hoping for a relaxing vacation regardless of where the oil goes.

   Ms. ANN WILLIAMS (Tourist): Because we have the pool, we didn't care too much that there would be oil on the beach because we knew we didn't have to go in it. We're going to have a good time no matter what, you know. No matter where.

   MOTT: The famed Blue Angels are set to bring their popular air show over this very beach this upcoming weekend, Brian , and a lot of retailers here say it may be their last good chance this summer to recover a lot of what they've lost all

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