Plan Your Meetings

Online booking engine rebuilds beaches

Gil Langley lost his boyhood home to Hurricane Katrina. When the insurance proceeds came in, the veteran travel industry professional used them to launch FunBeachesUSA.com, an online travel service designed to support storm recovery efforts along the nation’s shoreline.

“Beaches are the first line of defense against the ravages of coastal storms and hurricanes, and are the economic engine that will drive rebuilding after a storm hits,” Langley said in a press release. “FunBeachesUSA.com will help these communities by donating all after-tax profits to beach renourishment projects across the country.”

According to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, more than 53 percent of the population resides in U.S. coastal counties, and nearly 180 million people (85 percent of the tourism market) visit U.S. beaches annually. Close to 350,000 homes and buildings are located less than 500 feet from the ocean; the institute’s projections put 25 percent of those at risk of being destroyed during the next 60 years if water levels continue to rise and shorelines continue to erode.

The State of Louisiana plans to spend $14 billion dollars during the next 40 years to restore its coastal barriers, but regional storm damage sustained in 2004 alone tallied more than $21 billion. Most of the money to rebuild beaches comes from the U.S. Corps of Engineers, but federal monies cover less than half of the amount needed.

Langley was inspired to model FunBeachesUSA.com on Paul Newman’s successful Newman’s Own Corporation, which has raised more than $200 million for various charities through sales of its food products.

“More than 150 million people in the U.S. visited travel Web sites in 2005 and spent more than $60 billion booking their vacations,” Langley said. “If we can capture just a small share of the market, we can generate significant funding.”

Langley’s future plans include adding state-specific sites, such as texasfunbeaches.com, to benefit targeted locations, an online shopping mall and an affinity credit card with discounts for travelers.

“Communities with wide, healthy beaches suffered less damage than those where the beaches were gone,” Langley said. “They are also much better positioned to recover economically, because they still have a product to sell.”

Another Web site, AfterTheStorm.biz, focuses on aiding the recovery of local businesses. Currently under construction, the online directory also has links to local charities and humanitarian organizations.