Commercials highlight Ala. Gulf Coast

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - The Alabama Tourism Department unveiled two commercials Thursday to bring more attention to Alabama's Gulf Coast. the two 30-second commercials are expected to receive about $1 million worth of airtime on 42 stations from Baton Rouge to Cleveland to Savannah.

The new commercials spotlight the USS Alabama, the Battle House Hotel, the Grand Hotel, Mardi Gras, Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, the state’s white beaches and seafood restaurants.

State tourism director Lee Sentell said the 30-second commercials are part of the state's three-year Road Trip campaign. The campaign features a vintage convertible that visits rural areas as well as popular destinations.

The commercials will be shown through the end of the year without a cost to the state.

Sentell said employees of the state tourism agency have written 40 of a projected 100 road trips that range from a visit to see the quilters at Gee’s Bend in Wilcox County to a romantic weekend in downtown Mobile, and from a mountaintop weekend at Mentone to a girlfriends getaway to Gulf Shores.  The tourism agency will also promote the trips in the 2013 Alabama Vacation Guide published by Compass Marketing in Gulf Shores as well as ads in Southern Living magazine.

Road trips and accommodations as well as 1,500 festival and event listings are featured at the state tourism department’s website www.alabama.travel .