Hometown Tour: Gulf Shores Up Close

According to AAA, the average vacation for just two people costs about 250 dollars per day. Throw in a couple of kids and airfare, you could be looking at a vacation that could cost a lot more. Mike Foster with the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitor’s Bureau wants you to know that you don’t have to travel far for a summer trip while saving money and boosting the local economy.
“I think if you look back forty or fifty years ago, we were a quiet little place that people from Mobile and maybe Central Baldwin County came down to. It's probably been in the last twenty five years or so that it's began to develop an infrastructure here and really become a recreational area for not just people in Alabama, but for all over the United States."

According to the State Tourism Department, Alabama's beaches rank number one for the top tourist destination in the state!
"A lot of people traveling hundreds even thousands of miles to get this kind of beach. So it's an opportunity to stay close. You can save a little money."

If the beach is not your thing, you could get up close and personal with some furry friends at the Little Zoo that could for little cost.
There's even something for you history buffs.
"Fort Morgan is only a few miles out on the peninsula and that has got a great history that started back in 1812 and has gone on all the way through World War II. It has become a very important place, and obviously it's one of the places where Farragut said, ‘Damn the Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead’ and moved into Mobile Bay and that was the end of the Civil War."

With the cost of gas on the rise, staying just a tank away may be the perfect layout for your summer trip!