A record 4.3 million people visited Palm Beach County in the first half of 2018. Now, tourism leaders are trying to keep confirmed reports of red tide from hurting the local tourism industry.
On Singer Island, beachgoers attempting to access certain parts of the beach were denied access Monday.
"To be honest I was a little disappointed," one tourist said.
For the last month, the Alex and Melina have been traveling around the state stopping at different beaches along the way. But while visiting Riviera Beach Municipal Beach the couple was told to leave Monday.
"We came wrong day, wrong time, I guess," Alex said.
This comes after FWC confirmed red tide was found in samples from Palm Beach County waters. That’s likely what caused people to become sick over the weekend.
"The effect on our visitors is our primary concern of the tourist's development council and our teams," Glenn Jergensen said.
He says the Tourism Development Council is working with hotels and resorts near the beach to make sure they are informed.
"We never know. We have to be prepared for any type of environmental issue we have to deal with," Jergensen said.
Jergensen said it's too earlier to tell if the beach closures are having an economic impact. But over at the Marriott Resort Palm Beach Singer Island, the general manager says they are making alternative accommodations.
"We always want to have a backup plan so any activities that we had down on the beach for the kids we moved up here to this beautiful pool area and this is one of the resorts in the county that actually has a slide that our guests can enjoy," Roger Amidon said.
